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Form  No.  471 


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BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN  ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  69.     PLATE  1 


SECTION  OF  LA  HARPE  MANUSCRIPT  MAP,  CIRCA  1720 


SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION 

BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN  ETHNOLOGY 

BULLETIN  69 


N/^TIVE  VILLAGES  AND  VILLAGE  SITES 
EAST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 


BY 


DAVID  I.  BUSHNELL,  Jr. 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1919 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


Smithsonian  Institution, 
BuEEAu  OF  American  Ethnology, 

Wasliington,  D.  C,  Novemher  1,  1918. 
Sir:    I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  the  accompanying  manuscript, 
entitled  ''Native  Villages  and  Village  Sites  East  of  the  Mississippi," 
by  David  I.  BushneU,  jr.,  and  to  recommend  its  publication,  subject 
to  your  approval,  as  BuUetm  69  of  this  Bureau. 
Very  respectfully, 

J.  Walter  Fewkes, 

Chief. 
Dr.  Charles  D.  Walcott. 

Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 


PREFACE 


Considering  the  present  condition  of  Eastern  United  States,  with 
its  great  population  and  wealth,  its  many  cities  and  industrial 
centers,  wide  fields 'and  orchards,  all  connected  by  a  network  of 
many  thousands  of  miles  of  railways,  it  is  difficult  to  visualize  the 
same  region  as  it  wafe  a  short  time  ago — a  vast  wilderness  covered 
by  virgin  forests,  with  scattered  camps  and  villages  of  native  tribes 
standing  near  the  water  courses,  crossed  by  narrow  trails  which 
often  led  for  long  distances  over  mountain,  plain,  and  valley.  Such 
was  the  nature  of  the  country  traversed  by  the  Spaniards  during  the 
years  1539  and  1540,  colonized  by  tlie  English  in  1607  and  1620, 
and  explored  by  the  French  in  1673.  But  now  all  is  changed.  Many 
tribes  have  become  extinct  and  few  remain;  their  towns  have  dis- 
appeared, though  often  it  is  possible  to  identify  the  sites  where  once 
they  stood.  Fortunately  the  early  explorers  and  others  left  records 
of  their  journeys,  and  described  the  villages  reached  in  their  travels 
through  the  wilderness.  Now  many  such  references  to  the  widely 
scattered  towns  have  been  brought  together,  and  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  present  them  in  such  a  manner  as  will  reveal  the  country  as 
it  was  before  the  encroachment  of  European  settlements. 

5 


CONTENTS 

Page 

I.  The  country  and  the  people 9 

II.  Villages  and  village  sites 17 

Conclusion 99 

Bibliography 103 

Index '..... .--. 107 

7 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


1.  Section  of  the  La  Harpe  map,  circa  1720. 

2.  Ojib way  habitations,     a,  Birch-bark  covered -vrigwam.     6,  Mat-covered  wigwam. 

3.  a,  The  Housatonic,  covered  with  ice.'    6,  The  valley  of  the  Housatonic. 

4.  a,  Mahican  village,  circa  1651.     6,  Minisink  ^'illage,  circa  1651. 

5.  Secotan,  1585. 

6.  a,  Ceremony  at  Pomeioc,  1585.     h,  Pomeioc,  1585. 

7.  "The  Cabins  of  the  Powite  Indians,"  1663. 

8.  a,  Hochelaga,  1609.     h,  An  Onondaga  town,  1615. 

9.  a,  "The  Indian  Fort  Sasquesahanok,"  1720.     6,  Great  Island  in  West  Branch 

of  the  Susquehanna. 

10.  Characteristic  -views  in  the  South,     a.  In  the  Cherokee   Mountains.     6,   For- 

ests of  longleaf  pine,     c,  The  bayous  near  the  Gulf  coast. 

11.  Choctaw  settlement  at  Bonfouca,  from  painting  by  Bernard,  1846. 

12.  Earth  lodges.     A  Pawnee  village,  circa  1867. 

13.  Creek  house,  1790. 

14.  fl,    Temporary    dwelling    of   the    Seminole,     h,    Permanent   dwelling    of   the 

Seminole. 

15.  a,  Large  shell  heap  and  village  site  on  the  seacoast  near  St.  Augustine,     h,  The 

Tomoco  lUver,  near  Ormond. 

16.  a,  A  "public  granary' '  in  Florida.  1564.     h,  A  fortified  town  in  Florida,  1564. 

17.  Winnebago  camp,  from  painting  by  Captain  Eastman. 

TEXT   FIGURES 

Page 

1.  Plan  of  Ganundesaga  Castle 27 

2.  Bark  house.     Method  of  construction  of  the  Iroquois  long  house 52 

3.  Plan  of  Onondaga  long  house,  1743 . .  53 

4.  Example  of  wattlework 64 

5.  Choctaw  house  of  palmetto  thatch 65 

6.  Principal  structures  of  a  Creek  town  in  1789 74 

7.  Older  method  of  jjlacing  the  principal  structiires  in  a  Creek  town 75 

8.  Home  of  the  Chief  at  Apalachicola 79 

9.  "Indian  warehouse' '  at  Santa  Cruz,  1699 84 

10.  "Warehouse"  at  St.  Marys,  1699 85 

11.  Plan  of  an  ancient  structure  in  Beaufort  County,  South  Carolina 87 

12.  Head  of  deer  carved  in  wood,  from  Key  Marco,  Florida 101 


NATIVE  VILLAGES  AND  VILLAGE  SITES  EAST  OF 
THE  MISSISSIPPI 


By  David  I.  Bushnell,  Jr. 


I.  THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  PEOPLE 

Eastern  United  States,  that  part  of  the  country  extendmg  east- 
ward from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic,  when  first  traversed  by 
Europeans  was  the  home  of  many  tribes,  speaking  different  languages, 
having  various  maimers  and  customs  unlike  one  another,  and  often 
the  avowed  enemies  of  then*  neighbors.  The  combined  population 
of  the  many  tribes  formerly  living  withm  this  wide  area  has  been 
estimated  by  ^Ir.  James  Mooney  to  have  been  about  280,000,  scat- 
tered, although  having  many  distinct  centers  more  thickly  peopled 
than  others.  But  before  referring  to  the  distribution  of  the  tribes, 
or  rather  groups  of  tribes,  speaking  the  same  language,  we  should 
consider  the  physiographical  features  of  this  part  of  America,  as 
later  it  will  be  shown  how  great  an  influence  the  natural  environments 
exerted  on  the  development  of  certain  customs  of  the  people  in 
different  sections  of  the  country,  and  how  often  rivers  and  moimtains 
served  as  boundaries  between  the  lands  claimed  by  various  tribes. 

Considering  eastern  United  States  as  a  whole,  five  distinct  geo- 
graphic divisions  are  suggested : 

First,  eastward  from  the  Hudson,  including  entire  New  England, 
having  a  rough  and  rocky  surface,  with  many  streams  flowing  into 
the  Atlantic,  and  in  the  northern  part,  the  present  State  of  Maine, 
innumerable  lakes,  some  of  which  are  of  great  size.  Forests  of  pine, 
spruce,  and  hemlock  covered  a  large  part  of  this  region.  The  climate 
was  severe,  with  long  winters,  heavy  snows,  and  much  frost. 

Second,  the  coastal  plain  and  piedmont  area  bordering  on  the 
Atlantic  and  extending  to  the  foothills  of  the  Alleghenies,  having  in 
the  southern  portion  wide  expanses  of  low  swamp  lands,  and  crossed 
by  many  streams  taking  their  rise  in  the  mountains  to  the  westward. 

Third,  the  Alleghenies,  attaining  their  greatest  elevation  in  North 
Carolina,  with  many  rich  and  fertile  valleys  between  the  long  ridges 
which  extend,  hi  a  general  course,  toward  the  northeast.  The  range 
forms  the  divide  between  the  waters  flowing  mto  the  Atlantic  and 
those  reaching  the  Mississippi. 

Fourth,  the  rich  prairie  lands  and  hiUy  country  lying  west  of  the 
momitams  and  contmuing  to  the  Mississippi,  divided  transversely 


10  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHTTOLOGY  [bull.  69 

by  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  with  numerous  lesser  streams,  and  many 
lakes  in  the  northern  parts.  The  river  bottoms  were  well  wooded, 
springs  of  salt  water  were  often  encomitered,  and  the  many  natural 
products  made  use  of  by  the  Indians  were  plentifully  and  widely 
distributed. 

Fifth,  the  lowlands  of  the  South,  extending  eastward  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic,  bordering  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
including  the  peninsula  of  Florida.  Forests  of  pme  covered  much  of 
the  surface  and  the  dense,  semitropical  vegetation  of  central  and 
southern  Florida  was  never  touched  by  frost.  Many  rivers,  some  of 
considerable  size,  are  encoimtered  within  this  region,  with  swamps 
and  bayous  near  the  coast. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  country.  With  game  and  wild  fowl 
in  abmidance,  the  lakes  and  streams  teeming  with  fish,  while  oysters 
and  other  mollusks  were  easily  gathered  in  vast  quantities  along  the 
seacoast  and  many  varieties  of  wild  fruits  grew  on  moimtain  and 
plain,  food  was  usually  plentiful  and  easily  secured  by  the  native 
tribes.  Added  to  the  natural  supply  were  the  products  of  the  gar- 
dens of  the  sedentary  people,  by  whom  great  quantities  of  corn  and 
lesser  amounts  of  vegetables  were  raised,  and  often  preserved  for 
future  use. 

The  numerous  tribes  encountered  by  the  early  explorers  and 
colonists  in  eastern  United  States  belonged  to  several  linguistic 
groups,  and  with  few  exceptions  the  tribes  continued  to  occupy  their 
respective  domams  from  the  earliest  times  until  forced  westward  or 
until  they  fell  before  the  encroachment  of  European,  and  later  of 
American,  settlements. 

New  England  was  the  home  of  many  tribes,  some  small,  others 
larger,  all  of  which  belonged  to  the  great  Algonquian  family,  speaking 
a  language  understood  by  all  but  with  certain  dialectic  variations. 
Of  these  some  were  on  the  coast  occupying  small  villages  near  the 
mouths  of  the  many  rivers;  others  were  in  the  ulterior.  But  it  is 
quite  evident  many  coast  sites  were  occupied  only  during  certain 
seasons  of  the  year;  at  other  times  the  protection  of  the  forests  would 
be  sought.  Among  the  New  England  tribes  were  many  whose 
names  were  often  mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  colonies,  and  have 
since  been  perpetuated  by  applymg  them  to  the  streams  near  which 
they  once  lived.  Far  north  was  the  Abnaki  group,  including  the 
Micmac,  Passamaquoddy,  and  Penobscot,  of  Maine,  and  adjoinmg 
them  on  the  south  the  Massachuset,  Wampanoag,  Narraganset, 
Mohegan,  and  Pequot.  The  last  two  were  origmally  one  people, 
but  later  became  divided.  In  1637  the  Pequot  were  attacked  by 
the  English  and  their  strength  as  a  tribe  was  broken,  and  from  that 
time  until  the  close  of  Khig  Philip's  War  the  Narraganset  remained 
the  most  powerful  tribe  of  southern  New  England,  but  on  December 


BtJSHNELL]  NATIVE  VILLAGES  AND  VILLAGE   SITES  11 

19,  1675,  they  suffered  a  disastrous  defeat  and  lost  more  than  1,000 
in  killed  and  missmg.  Those  who  escaped  sought  refuge  among 
other  tribes.  Many  small  kindred  tribes  lived  south  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  while  extendmg  southward  from  near  the  lower  extrem- 
ity of  Lake  Champlam,  on  both  banks  of  the  Hudson,  were  the  Ma- 
hican.  On  the  east  bank  of  the  stream  they  jomed  the  Wappmger 
near  the  present  Poughkeepsie,  and  on  the  opposite  side  merged 
with  the  Mmisee  m  the  vicmity  of  Catskill  Creek.  Eastward  they 
occupied  the  upper  portion  of  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic  in  western 
Massachusetts.  The  Manhattan,  a  tribe  belonging  to  the  Wappmger 
confederacy,  gave  the  name  to  the  island  where  once  they  had  several 
small  settlements.  Manhattan  signifies  the  Island  of  Hills.  The 
Mmisee,  already  mentioned,  was  one  of  the  tlu-ee  prmcipal  tribes 
of  the  Delaware  or  Lenape,  with  whom  Penn  concluded  the  fu-st 
treaty  in  1682  at  their  village  of  Shackamaxon,  on  the  site  of  Ger- 
manto%vn,  a  suburb  of  Philadelphia. 

Southward  other  Algonquian  tribes  dommated  the  coast  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  Neuse,  in  the  present  State  of  North  Carohna,  about 
the  southernmost  members  of  this  great  Imguistic  family  being  the 
people  of  Roanoak,  on  the  island  of  Wococon,  discovered  in  the 
summer  of  1584  by  the  first  expedition  sent  out  by  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh. 

The  western  Algonquian  group  claimed  and  occupied  the  greater 
parts  of  the  present  States  of  Indiana,  lUinois,  Wisconsin,  and 
Michigan,  and  later,  parts  of  Ohio.  The  more  important  of  these  were 
the  Menominee  of  northeastern  Wisconsin;  the  Sauk  and  Fox,  who 
were  probably  first  encomitered  on  the  lower  Michigan  peninsula 
and  later  removed  to  the  westward  of  Lake  Michigan;  the  Peoria, 
Kaskaskia,  Michigamea,  Cahokia,  and  Tamaroa,  five  tribes  constitut- 
ing the  loosely  formed  Illinois  confederacy;  the  Miami  grouj3;  and 
the  widely  scattered  Shawnee. 

While  the  eastern  Algonquian  appear  to  have  been  sedentary,  and 
to  have  remamed  for  many  generations  in  a  given  section,  the  tribes 
of  the  west  seemed  to  have  developed  a  great  movement  about  the 
time  of  the  discovery  of  their  country  by  the  French  which  resulted 
in  many  removing  their  villages  to  distant  localities.  The  Peoria 
were  discovered  by  Marquette  early  m  the  smnmer  of  1673  occupying 
a  large  village  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Des  Moines  River.  Two  months  later  they  were  found  livmg 
on  the  banks  of  the  Illmois.  The  Kaskaskia  occupied  the  great  town 
of  Pontdalamia  which  stood  on  the  bank  of  the  Illinois  m  the  present 
comity  of  La  Salle,  and  was  visited  by  the  French  late  m  1679.  The 
village  was  probably  occupied  until  1703,  when  the  Kaskaskia  moved 
southward  and  settled  near  the  mouth  of  the  stream  which  now  bears 
their  name,  m  Randolph  Comity,  Ilhnois,  a  few  miles  below  the  future 


12  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  3{) 

site  of  Fort  Chartres,  planned  and  erected  by  the  French  in  1720  and 
in  1756  rebuilt  and  greatly  strengthened,  later  to  be  destroyed  by  the 
encroachment  of  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  Early  in  February, 
1682,  La  Salle  reached  "the  Village  of  the  Tamaoas,  where  we  met 
with  no  body  at  all,  thfe  Savages  being  retired  into  the  Woods  to 
Winter."  (Tonti,  (1),  p.  77.)  This  was  on  the  left  or  east  bank  of 
the  Mississippi,  10  leagues  below  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  and 
opposite  the  present  city  of  St.  Louis.  In.  the  autuimi  of  1721 
another  French  explorer,  Pere  Charlevoix,  while  passmg  down  the 
Mississippi,  reached  the  same  locality  and  there  remained  over  night 
at  the  "village  of  the  Caoquias  and  the  Tamarouas,  two  Illinois 
tribes  which  have  been  united."  (Charlevoix,  (1),II,  p.  218.)  The 
village  was  on  the  small  creek  which  now  bears  the  name  of  the 
first  of  the  tribes,  and  which  is  likewise  perpetuated  by  having  been 
applied  to  the  great  momid  a  few  miles  distant  from  the  site  of  the 
ancient  settlement. 

The  Illinois  tribes  were  closely  connected  linguistically  with  the 
Ojibway,  while  quite  distmct  were  the  Shawnee  and  the  allied  Sauk 
and  Fox,  who  spoke  dialects  with  slight  variations,  so  similar  as  to 
indicate  their  having  been  closely  associated  or  virtually  having 
lived  together  for  some  generations.  When  first  known  to  the 
French,  the  Fox  were  evidently  livmg  on  the  lower  Michigan  penin- 
sula, east  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  majority  of  the  Shawnee  were  then 
south  of  the  Ohio,  their  principal  settlement  bemg  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  present  city  of  Nashville,  Tenn.  Tlie  time  or  cause  of  their 
removal  southward  can  not  be  determined,  although  it  may  have  been 
forced  by  the  aggressiveness  of  the  Neutrals,  who,  during  the  first 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  probably  earlier,  were  engaged 
in  attackhig  the  Algonquian  tribes  to  the  westward  of  their  territory. 
But  in  1651  the  Neutrals  in  turn  suffered  a  crushing  defeat  by  the 
Iroquois.  From  their  new  home  in  the  valley  of  the  Cumberland  one 
or  more  bands  of  the  Shawnee  appear  to  have  moved  eastward, 
probably  passing  south  of  the  Cherokee,  and  thus  reaching  the  valley 
of  the  Savannah,  where  they  established  themselves  in  several  small 
villages  But  within  a  generation  some  had  again  turned  westward 
and  settled  for  a  few  years  on  the  Chattahoochee,  near  the  Uchee 
town.  Here,  however,  their  stay  was  of  short  duration  and  they 
soon  removed  to  the  Tallapoosa,  probably  to  be  near  the  French 
post  at  Fort  Toulouse.  Others  who  had  not  jomed  in  this  movement 
from  the  Savannah  soon  began  moving  northward  along  the  foot  of 
the  mountains.  This  movement  was  evidently  hastened  by  the 
trou})le  which  culminated  in  the  "Yamasee  War,"  in  1715.  Passing 
tlii'ough  the  Carolinas,  they  reached  the  valley  of  Virginia,  where  they 
established  several  small  villages,  with  other  settlements  north  of  the 
Potomac.     Soon  becoming  associated  with  remnants  of  the  Delaware 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND  VILLAGE   SITES  13 

and  others,  thoy  crossed  the  mountains  and  the  Ohio  and  settled 
within  the  future  State  of  Ohio.  Here  they  were  joined  by  the 
Sha\mee  from  the  Cumberland,  who  had  been  compelled,  by  reason 
of  the  acts  of  the  Chickasaw  and  Cherokee,  to  abandon  their  villages 
and  hunting  grounds  in  central  Tennessee  and  to  seek  a  home  beyond 
the  Ohio.  The  movement  from  the  south  began  about  the  year  1714 
and  was  hastened  by  the  pressure  exerted  by  the  neighboring  tribes. 
And  thus  the  tribe  was  again  united. 

The  valley  of  the  Neuse,  in  central  North  Carohna,  was  the  early 
home  of  Iroquoian  tribes,  of  which  the  Tuscarora  was  the  most  im- 
portant. The  Coree  on  the  coast  may  have  been  of  tliis  hnguistic 
group.  The  Tuscarora  was  the  most  powerful  tribe  between  the  sea 
and  the  mountains,  and  in  the  year  1708  had  15  towns  and  1,200 
warriors.  But  soon  the  encroaclunent  of  European  settlements  caused 
them  and  their  allies  to  revolt  and  attack  the  colonists.  This  resulted 
in  the  ''Tuscarora  War,"  which  began  in  1711,  and  ultimately  caused 
many  of  the  tribe  to  leave  the  colony  and  go  north  among  their  kin- 
dred of  the  Five  Nations,  which  after  the  consohdation  became  the 
Six  Nations — the  League  of  the  Iroquois.  These  closel}^  confeder- 
ated Iroquoian  tribes,  whose  home  since  earliest  historic  tinies  has 
been  in  the  central  and  western  parts  of  the  present  State  of  New 
York,  although  at  times  dominating  a  much  wider  region,  spoke  a 
language  quite  distinct  from  that  of  their  Algonquian  neighbors,  by 
whom  they  were  practically  surrounded.  The  five  nations  were  the 
Mohawk,  Cayuga,  Oneida,  Onondaga,  and  Seneca,  and  in  1722  the 
Tuscarora  became  the  sixth  nation.  The  league  was  probably  formed 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  when  they  were  forced 
to  unite  for  mutual  protection  against  the  neighboring  tribes.  Soon 
the  Dutch  arrived  on  the  Hudson*,  and  with  firearms  obtained  from 
the  traders  the  power  of  the  Iroquois  was  greatly  increased,  and 
they  became  feared  by  all  as  far  west  as  the  distant  Mississippi. 

The  Cherokee,  the  most  important  of  the  detached  Iroquoian 
tribes,  claimed  and  occupied  the  rough  region  of  the  southern  AUe- 
ghenies.  The  mountains  of  western  North  and  South  Carolina,  of 
southwestern  Virginia,  eastern  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  northern 
Georgia,  were  occupied  by  them  from  the  earliest  historic  times. 
Other  tribes  of  this  linguistic  family  were  the  Nottoway  and  Meherrin 
of  southeastern  Virginia;  the  Susquehanna  or  Conestoga,  first  en- 
countered by  a  party  of  the  JamestoA\Ti  colonists  under  Capt.  John 
Smith  during  the  summer  of  1608,  near  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay, 
their  villages  being  located  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  which  now 
bears  their  tribal  name;  the  Erie  or  Cat  nation,  who  lived  south  of 
Lake  Erie,  but  who  early  vanished  from  history;  the  Huron,  later 
known  as  the  Wyandot,  and  others. 


14  BUREAU   OF  AMEEICAN  ETHNOLOGY  [bcll.69 

The  South,  including  the  greater  part  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama 
and  sections  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  and  Florida,  was 
occupied  or  dominated  by  various  tribes  belonging  to  the  Muskho- 
gean  linguistic  group.  The  most  important  of  these  were  the  Choc- 
taw, Chickasaw,  and"  the  many  small  tribes  which  served  to  form  the 
Creek  confederacy. 

The  Choctaw,  which  probably  included  many  small  related  tribes, 
when  encountered  by  the  Spaniards  in  1540,  evidently  occupied 
central  and  southern  Mississippi,  reaching  to  the  shore  of  Lake  Pont- 
chartrain  on  the  south  and  ,to  and  beyond  the  Tombigbee  River  on 
the  east.  The  Chickasaw  were  discovered  the  same  year  in  the  region 
about  the  headwaters  of  the  Yazoo  and  Tombigbee  Rivers,  probably 
in  the  present  Union  and  Pontotoc  Counties,  Mississippi,  where  they 
continued  to  dwell  for  several  centuries.  They  may  at  this  time  have 
reached  to  the  Tennessee  or  beyond.  The  two  tribes  just  mentioned, 
the  Choctaw  and  the  Chickasaw,  were  closely  related,  they  spoke  the 
same  language  and  had  similar  customs,  but  were  ever  enemies. 
Their  natural  environment  had  much  to  do  with  their  mode  of  living, 
for,  while  the  former,  occupying  the  low,  rather  level  country,  were 
agriculturists,  the  latter,  living  in  a  broken,  hilly  region,  were  more 
expert  hunters,  and  the  wild  game  so  plentiful  and  so  easily  obtained 
furnished  much  of  their  food. 

The  Creek  confederacy  was  made  up  of  many  small  tribes  forming 
two  quite  distinct  groups  of  towns.  The  first  group,  later  known  as 
the  Upper  Creeks,  included  many  villages  in  the  valleys  of  the  Coosa 
and  Tallapoosa.  The  principal  settlements  were  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  old  French  post,  near  the  junction  of  the  two  streams.  The 
second  group,  occupying  both  banks  of  the  middle  and  lower  reaches 
of  the  Chattahoochee,  were  later -designated  the  Lower  Creeks.  The 
league  appears  to  have  had  its  beginning  in  prehistoric  times,  before 
the  coming  of  De  Soto  in  1540,  although  it  was  greatly  augmented 
and  strengthened  in  later  times,  when  Shawnee,  Yuchi,  and  Natchez 
were  admitted. 

The  Yamasi,  whose  early  home  was  in  central  Georgia  away  from 
the  coast,  but  who  in  1687  revolted  against  Spanish  rule  and  fled 
northward  across  the  Savannah,  also  belonged  to  this  linguistic 
family;  likewise  the  Natchez,  whose  connection,  however,  was  less 
clearly  defined.  Tlie  latter,  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  remark- 
able tribes  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  occupied  a  large  town  a  few  miles 
distant  from  the  present  city  of  Natchez,  Mississippi,  with  several 
small  villages  in  the  vicinity.  During  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century  they  were  at  war  with  the  French,  which  terminated  in  a 
great  defeat  of  the  Natchez,  who  were  forced  to  abandon  their  ancient 
territory,  and  in  1 730  the  remnants  of  the  tribe  had  scattered,  some 
crossing  the  Mississippi  and  others  moving  as  far  eastward  as  South 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE  VILLAGES  AND  VILLAGE  SITES  15 

Carolina.  It  now  appears  the  Guale,  undoubtedly  a  Muskhogean 
tribe,  were,  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  occu- 
pants of  the  islands  lying  off  the  coast  of  Georgia,  and  consequently 
were  the  people  fu-st  met  by  the  early  Spanish  explorers. 

Northern  Florida  was  the  early  home  of  a  group  of  tribes  now  desig- 
nated the  Timucuan,  of  which,  unfortunately,  very  little  is  kno^v^l. 
They  were  fii'st  encountered  by  Ponce  de  Leon  in  1513  near  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  St.  Augustine,  and  were  later  mentioned  by 
other  Spanish  leaders.  They  were  probably  the  builders  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  ancient  mounds  standing  in  northern  and  central 
Florida,  some  of  which  were  reared  after  the  coming  of  the  Europeans. 
The  name  of  the  group  is  derived  from  that  of  one  of  the  principal 
tribes  who  occupied  the  eastern-central  part  of  the  territory,  in  the 
vicinity  of  St.  Augustine  and  extending  along  the  middle  portion  of 
the  St.  John  River.  Other  tribes  of  this  linguistic  family  lived  on  the 
Gulf  coast  of  the  peninsula  from  Tampa  Bay  northward  to  the  Ocilla 
st  River,  there  reaching  the  southern  Muskhogean  tribes,  the  Apa- 
>^lachee.  The  latter  when  first  met  by  the  Spaniards  in  1528  was  an 
important  and  numerous  people  and  so  continued  until  the  close  of 
the  following  century.  In  the  year  1703  their  country  was  invaded 
by  the  expedition  led  by  Governor  Moore,  of  Carolina,  their  lands  and 
villages  were  laid  waste,  many  were  killed,  and  still  more  were  led 
into  slavery,  while  those  who  escaped  scattered  among  the  neighbor- 
ing peoples.  Soon  after  this  war  many  from  the  lower  Creek  towns 
on  the  Flint  and  Chattahoochee  moved  into  Florida,  and  became  the 
Seminole,  the  "Runaway,"  of  later  days,  their  numbers  being  aug- 
mented from  time  to  time  by  others  from  the  Creek  towns. 

Another  important  stock  remains  to  be  mentioned,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  it  was  once  far  more  numerous  and  powerful  in  the 
region  east  of  the  Mississippi  than  when  it  first  appeared  in  history. 
Wlien  Europeans  entered  the  southern  part  of  the  present  State  of 
Ohio  they  found  it  destitute  of  a  fixed  population.  Tliis  rich  and 
fertile  section  of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  had 
been  abandoned  by  its  former  occupants  and  now  served  as  a  hunting 
ground  for  the  neighboring  tribes.  It  was  crossed  by  several  im- 
portant trails  over  which  war  parties  from  the  surrounding  tribes 
passed  and  repassed  in  their  journeys  to  and  beyond  the  Ohio.  But 
it  is  evident  the  region  had  only  recently  been  the  home  of  a  com- 
paratively numerous  people,  as  shown  by  the  many  village  sites  and 
cemeteries,  mounds,  and  other  earthworks,  encountered  in  all  parts 
of  the  valley.  There  is  a  well-established  legend  among  certain 
Siouan  tribes  living  at  the  present  time  far  west  of  the  Mississippi,  of 
then-  migration  down  the  valley  of  the  Ohio  from  the  east.  Wlien 
the  mouth  of  that  river  was  reached  some  went  down  the  Mississippi 
and  settled  on  the  west  bank  within  the  present  State  of  Arkansas. 


16  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

These  were  the  Quapaw,  whose  name  signifies  downstream  feoiitle. 
Others  went  up  tlie  Mississippi,  among  them  the  Omaha,  which  may  be 
translated  those  going  against  the  wind  or  current.  Evidently  the 
Siouan  tribes  formerly  lived  in  that  part  of  the  Ohio  Valley  found 
vacant  when  first  entered  by  the  whites,  and  they  were  probably  the 
builders  of  the  great  earthworks  in  the  form  of  circles,  squares,  and 
many  of  complicated  designs,  which  are  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
many  ancient  works  existing  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

Although  the  great  body  of  the  Siouan  people  had  left  the  eastern 
country  before  the  coming  of  Europeans,  yet  some  small  groups  o^ 
this  linguistic  family  remained.  These  were  the  Catawba,  Chera 
Saponi,  and  Tutelo,  of  southern  Virginia  and  central  North  and  SoutL 
Carolina.  The  Waccamaw,  on  the  coast  north  of  Charleston,  south 
of  the  Cape  Fear  Indians  of  North .  Carolina,  were  Siouan,  and  the 
Congaree  and  Santee,  on  streams  bearing  their  tribal  names,  were 
the  southernmost  members  of  this  stock.  The  chief  of  the  latter  is 
said  to  have  had  absolute  power  over  his  people,  an  unusual  state 
among  the  Indians  of  North  America.  The  Monacan  confederacy  of 
piedmont  Virginia  undoubtedly  belonged  to  this  stock,  their  chief 
town  being  Rasawek,  at  the  junction  of  the  James  and  Rivaima,  in 
Fluvanna  County,  Virginia.  Adjoining  them  on  the  north  were 
other  tribes,  evidently  Siouan,  grouped  under  the  name  Manahoac  as 
first  applied  by  Capt.  John  Smith  tliree  centuries  and  more  ago.  The 
Siouan  tribes  of  piedmont  Vu'ginia  were  the  avowed  enemies  of  the 
Algonquians,  or  Powhatan  confederacy  of  the  tidewater  region,  and 
tribal  boundaries  were  seldom  more  clearly  defined  than  that  between 
these  two  groups.  It  extended  almost  due  north  from  the  falls  of 
the  Appomattox,  now  the  site  of  Petersburg,  crossing  the  James  just 
above  the  falls,  now  Richmond,  and  continuing  northward. 

Far  distant  from  the  preceding  were  the  Biloxi  on  the  GuK  coast 
and  the  Ofo  on  the  lower  Yazoo  River,  both  in  the  present  State  of 
Mississippi.  These  were  detached  Siouan  tribes,  speaking  a  dialect 
quite  similar  to  that  of  the  Tutelo  and  Saponi  of  Virginia,  but  differ- 
ing from  that  of  the  Catawba,  although  a  certain  old  tradition  would 
seem  to  connect  them  with  the  latter.  (Schoolcraft,  (1),  III,  p.  293.) ! 
The  Winnebago,  first  encountered  by  Nicollet  in  1634  at  their  villages 
on  the  shore  of  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  were  likewise  Siouan,  at  that 
time  neighbors  of  Algonquian  tribes,  with  whom  they  had  certain  cus- 
toms in  common,  although  speaking  a  distinct  language. 

The  Uchean  family  may  formerly  have  been  quite  numerous  and 
powerful,  although  since  its  discovery  it  has  evidently  been  repre- 
sented by  a  single  tribe.  They  appear  to  have  been  the  Cliisca  of  the 
De  Soto  narratives  and  to  have  lived  beyond  the  mountains,  proba- 
bly north  of  the  Cherokee.  Later  they  moved  southeast  to  the  valley 
of  the  Savannah,  and  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  some  went  to 


BusiiNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND  VILLAGE   SITES  17 

the  Chattahoochee,  where  they  became  a  part  of  the  Creek  confed- 
eracy. Their  town,  near  the  mouth  of  Uchee  Creek,  in  the  present 
Russell  County,  Alabama,  became  one  of  the  most  important  of  the 
league.  Others  later  settled  with  the  ShawTiee  among  the  Upper 
Creek. 

One  linguistic  family  remains  to  be  mentioned,  the  Tunican,  who 
when  first  known  to  history  lived  near  the  Mississippi  on  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  Yazoo,  in  the  present  State  of  Mssissippi.  They  were 
allied  with  other  small  tribes  farther  south  and  there  is  reason  to 
suppose  they  were  formerly  more  numerous  and  powerful.  Later 
they  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  at  different  times  occupied  several 
sites  in  Louisiana. 

From  this  brief  sketch  it  will  be  understood  the  native  tribes  who 
occupied  the  vast  country  extending  eastward  from  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Atlantic  are  recognized  as  having  belonged  to  seven  distinct  lin- 
guistic families,  to  which  number  others  may  be  added  when  more  is 
known  concerning  the  aborigines  of  southern  Florida.  Necessarily 
many  of  the  lesser  tribes  have  not  been  mentioned,  but  the  attempt 
has  been  made  to  locate  the  principal  groups  and  to  indicate  their 
positions  as  they  were  first  encountered  by  Europeans.  Of  the 
seven  groups  the  Algonc|uian  was  the  most  numerous,  followed  by 
the  Muskhogean,  Iroquoian,  Siouan,  Timucuan,  Uchean,  and  Tunican, 
and  although  the  last  two  may  not  have  numbered  more  than  1,000 
each  the  others  were  far  more  numerous,  forming,  as  already  stated, 
a  combined  population  east  of  the  Mississippi  approximating  280,000. 
Other  Algonquian,  Siouan,  and  Tunican  tribes  lived  west  of  the 
Mississippi  and  are,  consequently,  not  here  considered. 

The  languages  of  the  seven  groups  differed  to  such  a  degree  that 
one  would  not  have  been  intelligible  to  the  other,  and  often  within 
the  same  linguistic  family  the  various  tribes  spoke  radically  different 
dialects.  Thus  with  such  a  diversity  of  languages,  a  great  range  of 
climatic  conditions,  with  mountains  and  prairies,  swamps  and  lakes 
occurring  in  widely  separated  parts  of  the  region,  the  native  tribes 
of  this  part  of  North  America  developed  distinct  customs  influenced 
by  their  natural  conditions  and  environments.  And  seldom  were 
these  variations  more  pronounced  than  in  the  forms  of  dwellings  and 
other  structures  erected  by  the  different  tribes,  as  wiU  be  shown  in 
the  following  pages. 

II.  VILLAGES  iVND  VILLAGE   SITES 

The  term  "village  site,"  as  used  in  the  present  work,  applies  to 
aU  places,  large  or  small,  where  traces  of  aboriginal  habitations  have 
been  discovered.  Many  have  been  identified  by  name,  but  the  great 
majority  will  over  remain  unknown,  and  in  this  connection  it  wiU  be 

108851°— 19 2 


18  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

of  interest  to  trace  the  existence  of  native  settlements  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  to  show  how  seldom  the  amount  of  material 
encountered  on  a  site  is  indicative  of  the  extent  or  importance  of  the 
ancient  village. 

Early  maps  show  the  positions  of  native  villages,  and  often  it 
is  possible  to  locate  the  ancient  sites,  usually  by  following  the  water 
courses  near  which  they  stood.  A  manuscript  map  of  the  greatest 
interest  is  contained  in  the  La  Harpe  manuscript,  now  m  the  Library 
of  Congress  at  Washington.  This  shows  in  part  the  central  and 
southern  portions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  as  known  to  the  French 
about  the  year  1720,  with  the  scattered  towns  of  the  native  tribes. 
A  section  of  the  map  is  now  for  the  first  time  reproduced  in  plate  1. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  before  the  coming  of  Europeans 
the  aborigines,  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  occupied,  and  had  occu- 
pied for  many  generations,  their  ancient  sites.  This  alone  would 
have  made  possible  the  erection  of  the  earthworks  of  Ohio  and  the 
great  mounds  of  the  South  and  West,  as  no  migratory  people  could 
have  been  the  builders  of  the  works  wliich  undoubtedly  required 
much  time  to  complete.  Many  village  sites  are  traceable  over  a 
wide  area  and  would,  at  first  glance,  seem  to  indicate  the  presence 
of  a  rather  large  population,  but  in  reality  the  site  may  have  been 
occupied  by  a  small  number  of  habitations  during  a  comparatively 
long  period.  Evidences  of  occupancy  are  often  found  extending  for 
several  miles  along  the  banks  of  streams,  while  probably  not  more  than 
a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  area  was  occupied  at  a  given  time. 

The  chosen  spots  were  always  near  a  supply  of  fresh  water;  either 
springs  of  sufficient  size,  near  streams,  or  on  the  shores  of  lakes. 
Along  the  water  courses  the  larger  settlements  appear  to  have  been 
at  the  junction  of  two  streams,  thus  making  them  more  accessible 
with  canoes,  and  also  adding  to  the  sources  of  the  necessary  supply 
of  food.  It  is  quite  probable  that  settlements,  large  or  small,  were 
at  some  time  located  at  or  near  the  mouths  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
numerous  streams.  Evidences  of  such  villages  are,  in  many  mstances, 
yet  discernible,  but  other  sites  have  been  washed  away,  or  covered- 
by  deposits  of  alluvium. 

When  Champlain  explored  the  coast  of  New  England,  during  the 
first  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  he  visited  many  small  villages 
on  the  shores  of  bays  and  inlets  scattered  along  the  rugged  coast. 
During  July,  1605,  the  expedition  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Saco, 
in  the  present  York  County,  Maine,  and  there  discovered  a  small 
settlement,  of  which  they  wrote: 

"The  savages  dwell  permanently  in  this  place,  and  have  a  large 
cabin  surrounded  by  palisades  made  of  rather  large  trees  placed  by 
the  side  of  each  other,  in  which  they  take  refuge  when  their  enemies 


BDSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  19 

make  war  upon  them.  They  cover  their  cabins  with  oak  bark." 
(Champlain,  (2),  II,  pp.  63-67.) 

This  was  evidently  a  typical  coast  settlement  and  outside  the  pali- 
sade were  some  scattered  wigwams,  and  the  small  gardens  where 
corn,  beans,  and  other  vegetables  were  raised.  A  manuscript  dating 
from  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  gives  the  native  names  of  the  principal  streams  of  New 
England  flowing  into  the  Atlantic,  and  also  the  names  of  the  chiefs 
then  occupying  their  banks.  The  Saco  was  known  as  the  Sawaqua- 
tock,  "  and  there  did  Dwell  Agemohock"  (Bushnell,  (1),  p.  236),  proba- 
bly at  the  village  mentioned  by  Champlain.  This  may  have  been  a 
typical  coast  settlement  and  as  it  was  protected  by  palisades  was 
probably  a  permanent  settlement,  as  mentioned  in  the  narrative. 
In  recent  years  many  objects  of  Indian  origin  have  been  found  on 
the  summit  of  a  rocky  cliff  on  the  western  side^bf  the  mouth  of  the 
Saco,  evidently  marking  the  site  of  the  cluster  of  wigwams  seen  by 
the  French  in  the  summer  of  1605.  But  it  is  not  usually  possible  to 
picture  so  vividly  the  structures  which  at  one  time  occupied  the 
numerous  sites,  where  implements  of  stone,  fragments  of  pottery, 
broken  shells  and  bones,  and  usually  ashes  and  charcoal,  indicate 
the  position  of  some  ancient  village. 

Nearly  a  century  before  Champlain's  fii'st  visit  to  the  coast  of  New 
England,  then  an  unexplored  wilderness,  Verrazzano,  in  1524,  passed 
northward  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  expedition  stopped  at 
many  places  and  visited  widely  separated  villages,  one  of  which 
appears  to  have  been  at  some  pomt  near  the  eastern  end  of  Long 
Island.  This  was  a  settlement  of  an  iVlgonc^uian  tribe  and  may  have 
been  a  village  of  the  Shinnecock  near  Montauk  Point.  It  was 
described  thus: 

"We  saw  their  houses  made  in  circular  or  round  forme  10  or  12 
paces  in  compass,  made  with  halfe  circles  of  timber,  separate  one 
from  another  without  any  order  of  building,  covered  with  mattes  of 
straw  wrought  cunningly  together,  which  save  them  from  wind  and 
raine.  .  .  .  The  father  and  the  whole  family  dwell  together  in  one 
house  in  great  number:  in  some  of  them  we  saw  25  or  30  persons." 
(Verrazzano,  (1),  p.  299.) 

The  "halfe  circles  of  timber,"  mentioned  here,  probably  refer  to  the 
circular,  dome-shaped  wigwams,  formed  by  bending  and  fastening 
branches  or  small  saplings,  and  covering  the  frame  thus  made  with 
mats  or  pieces  of  bark,  characteristic  of  the  Algonquian  tribes.  Al- 
though many  early  writers  in  New  England  mentioned  and  de- 
scribed the  habitations  of  the  native  tribes,  the  most  interesting  and 
comprehensive  account  may  be  gathered  from  that  c|uaint  work  pre- 
pared by  the  settler  of  Providence  and  first  printed  in  the  year  1643, 


20  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

He  treats  principally  of  the  Narraganset,  in  whose  country  "a  man 
shall  come  to  many  townes,  some  bigger,  some  lesser,  it  may  be  a 
dozen  in  20  miles  travell."  Their  habitations  (p.  47)  were  formed 
of  "long  poles  which  the  men  get  and  fix,  and  then  the  women  cover 
the  house  with  mats,  and  line  them  with  embroidered  mats  which 
the  women  make,  and  call  them  Mannotaulana,  or  Hangings."  The 
houses  were  14  to  16  feet  in  diameter  and  were  occupied  by  two 
families.  Larger  structures  were  occupied  by  a  greater  number  of 
persons,  and  (p.  51) — 

"Most  commonly  there  houses  were  open,  their  doore  is  a  hanging 
Mat  which  being  lift  up,  falls  do\\Tie  of  itselfe;  yet  many  of  them  get 
English  boards  and  naUs,  and  make  artificiall  doores  and  bolts  them- 
selves, and  others  make  slighter  doores  of  Burch  or  CJiesnut  barke, 
which  they  make  fast  with  a  cord  in  the  night  time,  or  when  they  go 
out  of  town,  and  then  the  last  (that  makes  fast)  goes  out  at  the 
Chimney,  which  is  a  large  opening  in  the  middle  of  their  house,  called: 
Wunnauchicomock. " 

Evidently  the  Narraganset  did  not  occupy  permanent  villages, 
although  it  may  have  been  their  custom  to  return  and  occupy  certam 
sites  during  the  same  season  of  succeeding  years,  and  it  is  interesting 
to  trace  their  movements- through  the  year  (pp.  56-57) — 

"From  thick  warme  vallids,  where  they  winter,  they  remove  a 
little  neerer  to  their  Summer  fields;  when  'tis  warme  Spring,  then 
they  remove  to  their  fields,  where  they  plant  Corne.  In  middle  of 
Summer,  because  of  the  abundance  of  Fleas,  which  the  dust  of  the 
house  breeds,  they  will  fhe  and  remove  on  a  sudden  from  one  part  of 
their  field  to  a  fresh  place.  And  sometimes  having  fields  a  mile  or 
two,  or  many  miles  asunder,  when  the  worke  of  one  field  is  over, 
they  remove  house  to  the  other:  If  death  fall  in  amongst  them,  they 
presently  remove  to  a  fresh  place:  If  an  enemie  approach  they 
remove  to  a  Thicket,  or  Swampe,  unless  they  have  some  fort  to  re- 
move imto.  Sometimes  they  remove  to  a  hunting  house  in  the  end 
of  the  yeare,  and  forsake  it  not  until  Snow  be  thick  and  then  wiU 
traveU,  Men  women  and  children,  thorow  the  snow,  thirtie,  yea, 
fiftie  or  sixtie  miles;  but  their  great  remove  is  from  their  Summer 
fields  to  warme  and  thicke  woodie  bottomes  where  they  winter: 
They  are  quicke ;  in  haKe  a  day,  yea,  sometimes  at  few  houres  warning 
to  be  gone  and  the  house  is  up  elsewhere,  especially,  if  they  have 
stakes  readie  pitcht  for  their  Mats  .  .  .  The  men  make  the  poles  or 
stakes,  but  the  women  make  and  set  up,  take  downe,  order  and  carry 
the  Mats  and  householdstuffe." 

They  hunted  much  and  (p.  141) — 

"They  hunt  by  Traps  of  severaU  sorts,  to  which  purpose  after  they 
have  observed,  in  spring  time  and  Summer,  the  haunt  of  the  Deere, 


BDSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND  VILLAGE   SITES  21 

then  about  Harvest,  they  goe  ten  or  twentie  together,  and  sometimes 
more,  and  withall  (if  it  be  not  too  farre)  wives  and  children  also, 
where  they  build  up  little  hunting  houses  of  Barks  and  Kushes  (not 
comparable  to  their  dwelling  houses)  and  so  each  man  takes  his 
bounds  of  two,  three,  or  foure  miles,  where  he  sets  thirty,  forty  or 
fifty  Traps." 

And  Williams  mentions  two  other  structures  of  a  more  temporary 
nature  than  the  dwellings  (p.  146) : 

"Puttuckquapuonck.  This  Arbour  or  Play  house  is  made  of 
long  poles  set  m  the  Earth,  four  square,  sixteen  or  twenty  foot  high, 
on  which  the}^  hang  great  store  of  their  stringed  money,  have  great 
staking  towTie  agamst  to^\^Ie,  and  two  chosen  out  of  the  rest  by 
course  to  play  the  Game  at  this  kmd  of  Dice  hi  the  midst  of  all  their 
abettors." 

After  referring  to  several  ceremonies  he  continued: 

"But  their  chief  est  IdoU  of  all  for  sport  and  game,  is  (if  their  land  be 
at  peace)  toward  Harvest,  when  they  set  up  a  long  house  called 
Qmmekamuck,  which  signifies  Long  house,  sometimes  an  hundred 
sometimes  two  hundred  foot  long,  upon  a  plaine  neere  the  Court 
(which  they  call  Kitteickauick)  where  many  thousands,  men  and 
Women  meet,  where  he  that  goes  in  danceth  in  the  sight  of  aU  the 
rest.  .  .  ."     (WiUiams  (1)). 

The  latter  structure,  a  long  and  evidently  open  arbor,  closely  re- 
sembled the  Mide  lodge  of  the  Ojibway,  which  was  solely  a  place  for 
holding  the  rites  connected  with  the  Mide,  and  consequently  should 
not  be  confused  with  the  long  communal  dwelling  houses  of  the 
Iroquois.  As  both  the  Ojibway  and  Narraganset  were  Algonquian 
tribes  it  is  possible  their  long  ceremonial  structures  had  a  common 
and  quite  ancient  origm. 

The  movement  about  from  place  to  place  by  a  comparatively 
small  number  of  persons,  as  mentioneci  by  Williams,  easily  accomits 
for  the  many  small  camp  or  village  sites  discovered  in  all  parts  of  the 
land,  and  their  return  from  time  to  time  to  the  same  site  or  its  vicinity 
would,  in  after  years,  cause  it  to  appear  as  having  once  been  occupied 
by  a  large  group  of  wigwams — an  extensive  village.  Thus  an  area 
which  from  surface  indications  appears  to  have  been  rather  thickly 
peopled,  may,  in  reality,  have  been  the  home  of  a  small  number  of 
famihes  who  were  ever  moving  from  one  place  to  another,  as  the 
requirements  of  the  seasons  made  necessary. 

Evidently  all  the  native  dwellings  of  southern  New  England  were 
quite  similar,  although  they  may  have  differed  in  covering.  Early 
in  September,  1606,  the  French  reached  Port  Fortmie,  the  present 
Chatham  harbor,  the  eastern  point  of  Barnstable  County,  Massa- 
chusetts.    Here  they  found  "some  five  to  six  hundred  savages,"  and 


22  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

on  Champlain's  map  wigwams  and  gardens  are  indicated  at  many 
different  places  about  the  shore  of  the  bay.     And  it  was  said: 

"Tlieu*  dwellings  are  separate  from  each  other,  according  to  the 
land  which  each  occupies.  They  are  large,  of  a  circular  shape,  and 
covered  with  thatch  made  of  grasses  or  the  husks  of  Indian  corn  " 
(Champlam,  (2),  II,  pp.  120-130.) 

Some  10  years  after  the  preceding,  the  Jesuit,  Pere  Biard,  was 
among  the  native  tribes  of  New  France  and  prepared  notes  on  the 
customs  of  the  people.  He  wrote  principally  of  the  Micmac  and 
Malecite,  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  present  State  of  Maine  and  the 
adjacent  provinces,  and  when  describing  their  habitations  said: 

"AiTived  at  a  certain  place,  the  first  thing  they  do  is  to  build  a 
fire  and  arrange  their  camp,  which  they  have  finished  in  an  hour  or 
two;  often  in  half  an  hour.  The  women  go  to  the  woods  and  bring 
back  some  poles  which  are  stuck  into  the  ground  in  a  circle  around 
the  fire,  and  at  the  top  are  interlaced,  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid,  so 
that  they  come  together  directly  over  the  fire,  for  there  is  the 
chimjiey.  Upon  the  poles  they  throw  some  skins,  matting  or  bark. 
At  the  foot  of  the  poles,  under  the  skins,  they  put  their  baggage. 
All  the  space  around  the  fire  is  strewn  with  leaves  of  the  fir  tree, 
so  they  will  not  feel  the  dampness  of  the  ground;  over  these  leaves 
are  often  thrown  some  mats,  or  sealskins  as  soft  as  velvet;  upon 
this  they  stretch  themselves  around  the  fire  with  their  heads  resting 
upon  their  baggage;  And,  what  no  one  would  believe,  they  are  very 
warm  in  there  around  that  little  fire,  even  in  the  greatest  rigors 
of  the  Winter.  They  do  not  camp  except  near  some  good  water, 
and  in  an  attractive  location.  In  Summer  the  shape  of  their  houses 
is  changed;  for  then  they  are  broad  and  long,  that  they  may  have 
more  air;  then  they  nearly  always  cover  them  with  bark,  or  mats 
made  of  tender  reeds,  finer  and  more  delicate  than  om-s  made  of 
straw,  and  so  skillfully  woven,  that  when  they  are  hung  up  the 
water  runs  along  their  surface  "without  penetrating  them."  (Biard, 
(l),p.  77.) 

And  here  follows  an  mteresting  account  of  their  ways  and  means 
of  gathering  food,  with  different  fish  and  game  during  the  changing 
seasons  of  the  year. 

The  dwellings  encoimtered  by  the  Pilgrims  on  Cape  Cod,  when  they 
reached  that  shore  early  in  November,  1620,  "were  made  with  long 
young  Sapling  Trees,  bended  and  both  ends  stuck  into  the  ground: 
they  were  made  round,  like  unto  an  Arbour  .  .  .  The  houses  were 
double  matted,  for  as  they  were  matted  without,  so  were  they  within, 
with  new  &  fairer  matts.  In  the  houses  we  found  wooden  Boules, 
Trayes  &  Dishes,  Earthen  Pots,  Handbaskets  made  of  Crab  shells 
wrought  together  .  .  ."     (Mourt,   (1),  p.  18.) 


iMsiiNKLL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  23 

Mats  served  to  cover  the  small  entrance,  and  others  were  used  to 
close  the  opening  left  in  the  top  for  the  smoke  to  pass  out,  the  fire 
being  kindled  on  the  ground  within  the  lodge.  Many  pits  (caches) 
filled  with  corn  and  other  supplies  were  discovered  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  dwellings,  and  a  large  quantity  of  the  corn  was  taken  by  the 
English— a  food  new  to  them. 

This  appeai-s  to  have  been  the  most  usual  form  of  habitation  of 
the  Indians  of  New  England,  although  in  the  extreme  northern  part, 
among  the  lakes  of  Maine,  where  the  birch  attained  a  large  size  and 
grew  in  great  plenty,  the  lodge  covered  with  strips  of  birch  bark  was 
known  and  used.  About  the  close  of  the  year  1689  Pere  Sebastien 
Rasles  went  from  Quebec  and  settled  among  the  Abnaki,  in  a  village 
not  far  distant,  which  he  thus  described: 

"This  village  was  inhabitated  by  two  hundred  Savages,  nearly  all 
of  whom  were  Christians.  Their  cabins  were  ranged  almost  like 
houses  in  cities;  an  enclosure  of  high  and  closely-set  stakes  formed  a 
sort  of  wall,  which  protected  them  from  incursions  of  their  enemies. 
Their  cabins  are  very  cj^uickly  set  up;  they  plant  their  poles,  which 
are  jomed  at  the  top,  and  cover  them  with  large  sheets  of  bark. 
The  fire  is  made  in  the  middle  of  the  cabin;  they  spread  all  around  it 
mats  of  rushes,  upon  which  they  sit  during  the  day  and  take  their 
rest  during  the  night."     (Rasles,  (1),  p.  135.) 

This  clearly  refers  to  a  palisaded  village,  the  dwellings  of  conical 
form  covered  with  bark  which,  although  not  so  mentioned,  was 
undoubtedly  taken  from  the  birch.  Thus  in  New  England,  among 
the  eastern  Algonquian  tribes,  as  among  the  related  tribes  of  the 
upper  IMississippi  Valley,  the  kind  of  material  available  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  habitation  usually  detennined  the  type  of  structure 
erected,  and  while  the  conical  birch  bark  covered  wigwam  was  used 
in  the  northern  part  of  their  country,  only  the  dome-shaped  mat- 
covered  dwelling  was  encountered  farther  south.     (PL  2.) 

Pere  Rasles  (op.  cit.,  p.  217)  later  referred  to  trhe  manner  in  wliich 
the  Abnaki  would  sleep  when  on  a  journey  away  from  their  villages. 
He  wrote-: 

"The  Savages  sleep  uncovered  in  the  open  fields,  if  it  do  not  rain; 
if  it  rain  or  snow,  they  cover  themselves  with  sheets  of  bark,  which 
they  carry  with  them,  and  which  are  rolled  up  like  cloth." 

Quite  similar  to  this,  as  will  be  shown  on  a  subsequent  page,  was 
Bartram's  description  of  the  shelter  provided  for  him  by  his  Indian 
guides  during  the  journey  to  Onondaga  in  the  summer  of  1743. 
The  Abnaki  moved  from  place  to  place  during  the  year,  as  did 
others,  often  seeking  food  on  the  coast  between  the  plantiag  and 
the  harvesting  of  their  corn;  their  villages  and  gardens  being  inland 
away  from  the  sea. 


24  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

The  preceding  quotations  describe  the  native  dwelling  encountered 
by  the  colonists  who  reached  New  England  during  the  fii'st  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  They  were  the  small  dome-shaped  mat 
or  bark  covered  structure,  usually  constructed  to  accommodate  one 
family,  seldom  more,  but  in  later  years  a  larger  type  of  dwelling 
appears  to  have  been  built.  Nevertheless  it  is  often  quite  difficult 
to  understand  the  exact  meaning  of  the  early  narratives,  and  some 
who  wrote  during  the  first  years  of  the  century  may  have  seen  long, 
extended  dwellings  standing  in  the  various  native  villages  along  the 
coast.  Daniel  Gookm,  writing  from  "  Camhridge,  in  N.  E.  Dec.  7th, 
1674,"  gave  a  general  account  of  the  dwellings  of  the  New  England 
Indians  as  they  were  at  that  time.     He  said: 

''Their  houses,  or  wigwams,  are  built  with  small  poles  fixed  in  the 
ground,  bent  and  fastened  together  with  barks  of  trees  oval  or 
arbour-wise  on  the  top.  The  best  sort  of  their  houses  are  covered 
very  neatly,  tight,  and  warm,  with  barks  of  trees,  slipped  from  their 
bodies,  at  such  seasons  when  the  sap  is  up;  and  made  into  great 
flakes  with  pressures  of  weighty  timbers,  when  they  are  green;  and 
so  becoming  dry,  they  will  retain  a  form  suitable  for  the  use  they 
prepare  them  for.  The  meaner  sort  or  wigwams  are  covered  with 
mats,  they  make  of  a  kind  of  bulrush,  which  are  also  indifferent 
tight  and  warm,  but  not  so  good  as  the  former.  These  houses  they 
make  of  several  sizes,  according  to  their  activity  and  ability;  some 
twenty,  some  forty  feet  long,  and  broad.  Some  I  have  seen  of 
sixty  or  a  hundred  feet  long,  and  thirty  feet  broad.  In  the  smaller 
sort  they  make  a  fire  in  the  centre  of  the  house;  and  have  a  lower 
hole  on  the  top  of  the  house,  to  let  out  the  smoke.  They  keep  the 
door  into  the  wigwams  always  shut,  by  a  mat  falling  thereon,  as 
people  go  in  and  out.  This  they  do  to  prevent  air  coming  in,  which 
will  cause  much  smoke  in  every  windy  weather.  If  the  smoke  beat 
down  at  the  lower  hole,  they  hang  a  little  mat  in  the  way  of  a  skreen, 
on  the  top  of  the  house,  which  they  can  with  a  cord  turn  to  the  wind- 
ward side,  wliich  prevents  the  smoke.  In  the  greater  houses  they 
make  two,  three,  or  four  fires,  at  a  distance  one  from  another,  for 
the  better  accommodation  of  the  people  belongmg  to  it.  I  have 
often  lodged  in  their  wigwams;  and  have  found  them  as  warm  as 
the  best  English  houses.  In  their  wigwams  they  make  a  kind  of 
couch  or  mattresses,  firm  and  strong,  raised  about  a  foot  high  from 
the  earth ;  fii-st  covered  with  boards  that  they  split  out  of  trees ;  and 
upon  the  boards  they  spread  mats  generally,  and  some  times  bear 
skins  and  deer  skins.  They  are  large  enough  for  three  or  four 
persons  to  lodge  upon:  and  one  may  either  draw  nearer  or  keep  at 
a  more  distance  from  the  heat  of  the  fire,  as  they  please,  for  their 
mattresses  are  six  or  eight  feet  broad."     (Gookin,  (1),  pp.  149-150.) 


BtTsiiNELi.l  NATlvK   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  25 

In  many  respects  this  general  account  confirms  statements  of  the 
earlier  ^vriters,  as  well  as  giving  details,  and  recording  information 
not  to  be-  found  in  the  older  works.  It  is  interesting  to  learn  the 
manner  in  which  largo  pieces  of  bark  were  prepared  to  serve  over 
the  lodge  frame,  and  evidently  bark  was  considered  a  much  better 
covering  than  mats  made  of  rushes.  The  narrative  is  of  unusual 
interest,  as  it  was  prepared  at  a  time  when  great  changes  were  about 
to  occur  in  the  manners  and  conditions  of  the  New  England  Indians. 
Soon  was  to  begin  the  war  with  the  southern  tribes,  King  Philip's 
War,  so  famed  in  history. 

Western  ^lassachusetts  was  the  home  of  the  Housatonic  or  River 
Indians,  later  known  as  the  Stockbridges.  In  the  year  1736  several 
groups  were  settled  on  a  tract  of  land  set  apart  for  their  use  by  the 
Colonial  government,  the  lands  extending  down  the  valley  of  the 
Housatonic,  reaching  to  the  present  Great  Barrington  and  neighbor- 
ing villages.  A  general  view  of  the  valley,  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  tract,  is  given  in  plate  3,  h.  The  Housatonic,  taken  from  an  ancient 
village  site  on  the  right  bank  about  4  miles  below  Great  Barrington, 
is  sho^^^l  in  plate  3,  a.  These  Indians  belonged  to  the  Mahican  con- 
federacy, tribes  wliich,  as  already  mentioned,  occupied  the  upper 
Hudson  valley  and  the  adj  acent  country  eastward.  The  region,  rough 
and  mountainous,  remained  thinly  peopled  long  after  other  parts  of 
N(»w  England  were  rather  thickly  populated.  In  the- spring  of  1743 
David  Brainerd,  "A  missionary  among  the  Indians,"  went  to  them. 
He  arrived  on  the  first  day  of  April  "at  a  Place  called  by  them 
Kaunaumeek  in  the  County  of  Albany,  near  about  twenty  Miles  dis- 
tant from  the  City  Eastward.  The  Place  .  .  .  was  twenty  Miles 
distant  from  any  English  Inhabitants  .  .  .  and  also  being  too  far 
distant  from  the  Indians  I  therefor  resolv'd  to  remove,  and  live 
with  or  near  the  Indians  .  .  .  Accordingly  I  removed  soon  after; 
and,  for  a  Time,  liv'd  with  them  in  one  of  their  Wigwams."  (Pem- 
berton,  (1),  pp.  25-26.) 

In  describing  the  habitations  of  these  Indians  a  few  years  later  it 
was  said: 

"A  Wigwam  is  an  Indian  House,  in  building  of  which  they  take 
small  flixible  Poles  and  stick  them  into  the  Ground,  round  such  a 
space  as  they  intend  for  the  Bigness  of  their  House,  whether  greater 
or  less:  those  Poles  they  bend  from  each  Side,  and  fasten  them 
together,  making  an  Arch  over  Head :  Then  they  fasten  small  Sticks 
to  them,  cutting  the  Poles  at  right  Angles,  which  serve  for  Ribs, 
After  which  they  cover  the  whole  with  Bark  of  Trees,  leaving  a  Hole 
in  the  Top  for  the  Smoak  to  go  out,  and  at  one  or  both  Ends  to  go 
in  and  out."     (Hopkins,  (1),  p.  11.) 

The  same  Avriter,  on  page  23,  mentions  a  structure  50  or  60  feet 
in  length,  having  fires  burning  within,  and  with  40  or  more  Indians 


26  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

"seated  on  each  Side  of  the  Fires,  from  End  to  End  of  the  Wigwam, 
except  a  space  at  one  end  of  the  Wigwam,  for  the  Priests,  or  Paw- 
waws."  The  latter  was  probably  in  the  present  village  of  Great 
Barrington,  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts.  It  was  undoubtedly 
a  council  house,  where  the  tribal  affairs  were  discussed  and  arranged, 
and  in  some  respects  this  suggests  the  structures  of  the  Iroquois. 
Although  the  works  just  quoted  do  not  mention  the  existence  of 
palisades  among  the  Mahican,  it  is  evident  their  villages  in  earlier 
times  were  so  protected.  The  custom  had  probably  been  abandoned 
before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  by  which  time  the  tribes 
had  become  reduced  in  numbers  and  scattered;  no  longer  maintain- 
ing compact  settlements,  but  living  apart  in  smaller  groups.  For- 
tunately there  is  preserved  a  picture  of  an  ancient  Mahican  village, 
made  before  it  had  lost  its  primitive  aspect.  It  appears  on  the  very 
rare  map  of  Novi  Belgii,  which  was  evidently  engraved  between  the 
years  1651  and  1656  and  bears  a  view  of  New  Amsterdam,  considered 
to  be  the  second  one  made  of  the  future  city  of  New  York.  Above 
the  picture  of  the  village  is  the  legend :  Modus  muniendi  apud  Malii- 
Jcanenses,  together  with  the  Dutch  translation.  This  is  reproduced 
as  plate  4,  a.  The  wigwams  are  undoubtedly  shown  in  too  regular 
order,  but  in  other  respects  the  drawing  is  probably  quite  true  and  is 
suggestive  of  a  statement  made  by  Lahontan  a  few  years  later. 
When  writing  of  the  northern  tribes  in  general  he  said :  , 

"Their  Villages  are  Fortified  with  double  Palissadoes  of  very  hard 
Wood,  which  are  as  thick  as  one's  Thigh,  and  fifteen  Foot  high,  with 
little  Squares  about  the  middle  of  the  Courtines.  Commonly  their 
Huts  or  Cottages  are  Eighty  Foot  long,  Twenty  five  or  Thirty  Foot 
deep,  and  Twenty  Foot  high.  They  are  cover' d  with  the  Bark  of 
young  Elms."     (Lahontan,  (1),  II,  p.  6.) 

Describing  the  interior  of  the  houses  he  referred  to  a  raised  plat- 
form extending  along  either  wall  which  served  as  places  for  beds. 
Fires  were  kindled  on  the  ground  between  platforms  and  there  were 
"vents  made  in  the  Roof  for  the  Smoke."  This  undoubtedly  was  a 
description  of  some  Iroquoian  settlement,  but  the  reference  to  "little 
Squares  about  the  middle  of  the  Courtines"  would  certainly  apply  to 
the  drawing  of  the  Mahican  village.  However,  there  was  probably  a 
great  similarity  between  the  villages  of  the  western  Algonquian  tribes 
of  New  England  and  those  of  the  Irocjuoian  tribes  beyond  the  Hudson. 
Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi,  it  is  evident 
that  when  two  tribes  or  groups  of  tribes  whose  towns  possess  dis- 
tinctive characteristics  are  near  to  one  another  their  border  settle- 
ments will  show  the  pecufiar  features  of  both.  The  sketch  of  the 
Mahican  village  and  the  preceding  note  from  Lahontan  are  likewise 
suggestive  of  a  rectangular  inclosm'e,  an  ancient  Seneca  site,  near 
Geneva,  Ontario  County,  New  York.     A  plan  of  the  latter  is  given  in 


BCSIINELL] 


NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLA(ii:   SITES 


27 


figure  1,  taken  from  Plate  XIII  of  Squier's  work  (Squier,  (1), 
pp.  61-62),  and  it  is  of  the  greatest  interest  to  know  the  Seneca  village 
was  occupied  long  after  the  engraving  of  the  Mahican  town  was  made. 
Remarkable  intlced  is  the  history  of  this  ancient  Seneca  site,  which 
was  destroyed  by  Sullivan  in  1779,  at  which  time  the  palisades  were 
burned  and  the  surrounding  fields  and  orchards  laid  waste.     This  was 


Of   nif  .•:FNfrAS .  ^TAH     ;:.i.,\r\'i, 

ON  TAR  10    Co  .  N.  Y. 


iy).ft,lollK-  Inch 


Fig.  1.  -Plan  of  Ganundesaga  Castle. 

the  Ganundesaga  Castle,  which  had  been  built,  or  rebuilt,  by  order 
of  Sir  William  Johnson  in  1756,  and  in  writing  of  it  Squier  said: 

"The  traces  of  this  palisaded  work  are  very  distinct,  and  its  out- 
line may  be  followed  with  the  greatest  ease.  Its  preservation  is 
entirely  due  to  the  circumstance  that  at  the  time  of  the  cession  of 
their  lands  at  this  point,  the  Senecas  made  it  a  special  condition 
that  this  spot  should  never  be  brought  imder  cultivation.     'Here,' 


28  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

said  they,  'sleep  our  fathers,  and  they  can  not  rest  well  if  they  hear 
the  plough  of  the  white  man  above  them.'  The  stipulations  made 
by  the  purchasers  have  been  religiously  observed  ...  In  form  the 
work  was  nearly  rectangular,  havmg  small  bastions  at  the  north- 
western and  southeastern  angles.  At  a  and  h  are  small  heaps  of 
stone,  bearing  traces  of  exposure  to  fire,  which  are  probably  the 
remains  of  forges  or  fireplaces.  The  holes  formed  by  the  decay  of 
the  pickets  are  now  about  a  foot  deep  ...  A  few  paces  to  the 
northward  of  the  old  fort  is  a  low  mound  with  a  broad  base,  and 
undoubtedly  of  artificial  origm.  It  is  now  about  six  feet  high,  and 
is  covered  with  depressions  marking  the  graves  of  the  dead  .  .  . 
it  is  certain  that  it  was  extensively  used  by  the  Senecas  for  purposes 
of  burial." 

Probably  similar  traces  of  the  Mahican  villages  could  be  discovered 
if  their  exact  positions  were  known,  although  if  the  sites  have  been 
cultivated  little  would  remain  to  indicate  the  locations  of  the  ancient 
settlements.  Tlie  habitations  of  the  Seneca  and  other  tribes  of  the 
Five  Nations  are  of  the  greatest  interest  and  will  be  mentioned  later. 

Long  Island  was  occupied  by  several  tribes,  aU  rather  small. 
The  eastern  end  of  the  island  has  been  mentioned  in  comiection 
with  the  expedition  of  Verrazzano  in  1524.  An  equally  valuable 
and  interesting  description  of  the  habitations  on  the  extreme  western 
end  of  the  island  a  century  and  a  half  later  is  preserved  in  the  journal 
of  two  Hollanders  who  visited  the  comitry  during  the  years  1679 
and  1680.  (Bankers  and  Sluyter,  (1),  pp.  124-125.)  While  going 
through  the  woods  they  met  a  woman  engaged  in  pounding  corn. 
She  belonged  to  the  near-by  village  of  Najack,  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Fort  Hamilton,  at  the  Narrows,  to  which  place  they  accom- 
panied her.  Leaving  the  place  where  she  was  beating  the  corn, 
"We  went  ...  to  her  habitation,  where  we  found  the  whole 
troop  together,  consisting  of  seven  or  eight  families,  and  twenty  or 
twenty-two  persons,  I  should  think.  Their  house  was  low  and 
long,  about  sixty  feet  long  and  fourteen  or  fifteen  feet  wide.  The 
bottom  was  earth,  the  sides  and  roof  were  made  of  reed  and  the  bark 
of  chestnut  trees;  the  posts,  or  columns,  were  limbs  of  trees  stuck  in 
the  ground,  and  aU  fastened  together.  The  top,  or  ridge  of  the  roof 
was  open  about  hah"  a  foot  wide,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  in  order 
to  let  the  smoke  escape,  in  place  of  a  chimney.  On  the  sides,  or 
walls,  of  the  house,  the  roof  was  so  low  that  you  could  hardly  stand 
under  it.  The  entrance,  or  doors,  which  were  at  both  ends,  were  so 
small  and  low  that  they  had  to  stoop  and  squeeze  themselves  to 
get  through  them.  The  doors  were  made  of  reed  or  flat  bark  .  .  . 
They  build  their  fires  m  the  middle  of  the  floor,  according  to  the 
number  of  families  which  live  ui  it." 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  29 

The  utensils  belongmg  to  each  family  were  scattered  on  the 
ground  near  their  particular  fii-e;  mats  were  on  the  gromid  and 
served  as  sleeping  places.  Evidently  there  were  other  similar 
houses  in  the  commmiity,  as  the  authors  contmue  by  saying,  "All 
who  live  in  one  house  are  generally  of  one  stock  or  descent,  as  father 
and  mother  with  their  offspring."  This  and  other  statements  led 
Morgan  to  remark: 

"There  is  nothing  m  these  statements  forbidding  the  supposition 
that  the  household  described  practiced  commmiism  in  living.  The 
composition  of  the  household  shows  that  it  was  formed  on  the 
principle  of  gentile  kin,  wliile  the  several  families  cooked  at  the 
different  fires,  which  was  the  usual  practice  m  the  different  tribes." 
(Morgan,  (1),  p.  119.) 

This  suggests  the  house  of  the  Mahican  Indians  near  the  Housa- 
tonic,  already  mentioned,  and  Gookm's  description  of  certain  struc- 
tures of  the  tribes  of  eastern  New  England.  As  told  m  the  preceding 
section,  Algonquian  tribes  domuiated  both  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
therefore  it  must  have  been  people  of  this  stock  who  were  encountered 
by  the  discoverers  of  the  stream  when,  during  the  autumn  of  1609, 
the  Half-Moon  sailed  up  as  far  as  the  vicinity  of  the  present  towTi  of 
Hudson.     In  his  journal  Hudson  wrote: 

"I  sailed  to  the  shore  in  one  of  their  canoes  with  an  old  man, 
who  was  the  chief  of  a  tribe  consisting  of  forty  men  and  seventeen 
women;  these  I  saw  there  in  a  house  weU  constructed  of  oak-bark, 
and  circular  in  shape,  so  that  it  had  the  appearance  of  being  built 
with  an  arched  roof.  It  contained  a  great  quantity  of  maize  or 
Indian  corn  and  beans  of  last  year's  growth,  and  there  lay  near  the 
house  for  the  purpose  of  drymg  enough  to  load  tlu"ee  ships,  besides 
what  was  growmg  in  the  fields.  On  our  coming  into  the  house, 
two  mats  were  spread  out  to  sit  upon,  and  immediately  some  food 
was  served  in  well  made  red  wooden  bowls;  two  men  were  also  des- 
patched at  once  with  bows  and  arrows  in  quest  of  game,  who  soon 
after  brought  in  a  pair  of  pigeons  which  they  had  shot.  They  like- 
wise killed  a  fat  dog,  and  skimied  it  in  great  haste  with  shells  wliich 
they  had  got  out  of  the  water."     (Laet,  (1),  p.  300.) 

Large  circular  houses,  occupied  by  a  number  of  persons,  were 
quite  unusual,  but  Roger  Williams  had  evidently  seen  them  among 
the  Narraganset,  and  they  may  have  been  found  elsewhere  in  New 
England. 

The  right,  or  west,  bank  of  the  Hudson  southward  from  the  mouth 
of  Catskill  Creek  was  occupied  by  the  Munsee,  one  of  the  three 
principal  divisions  of  the  Delaware.  The  Munsee  were  further 
divided,  the  Minisink  constituting  the  most  important  group.  A 
drawing  of  a  Minisink  village  is  given  beneath  the  Mahican  town  on 
the  map  of  Novi  Belgii  and  bears  the  legend:    Alter  Modus  apud 


30  BUREAU   OF  AMEEICA:Nr   ETHNOLOGY  [bdll.69 

Minnessincos.  This  is  reproduced  in  plate  4,  h.  It  appears  as  a  typi- 
cal eastern  Algonquian  settlement;  a  few  wigwams  surrounded  by  a 
single  line  of  palisade,  with  one  gateway.  The  details  of  the  drawing, 
as  the  exactness  with  which  the  houses  are  placed,  the  height  of  the 
palisades,  and  the  size  of  the  figures  in  the  foreground,  are  far  from 
being  accurate,  but  historically  the  engraving  is  of  great  interest 
and  must  necessarily  convey  some  idea  of  the  appearance  of  the 
ancient  Munsee  villages,  which  probably  did  not  differ  to  any  great 
degree  from  those  farther  south,  among  the  Algonquian  tribes  who 
occupied  the  coastal  plain  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Neuse,  in  the 
present  North  Carolina. 

There  is  reason  to  suppose  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland  was  at 
one  time  occupied  by  a  comparatively  large  native  population,  with 
many  villages  scattered  along  the  shore  where  fish  and  wild  fowl  were 
always  to  be  secured  as  food.  Some  villages  were  protected  by  an 
encircling  palisade;  others  were  open.  On  the  maps  of  Capt.  John 
Smith  the  ToclcwogTi  jiu.  corresponds  with  the  position  of  the  present 
Sassafras  River,  flowing  between  Cecil  County  on  the  north  and  Kent 
County  on  the  south,  the  first  forming  the  extreme  northeast  corner 
of  Maryland,  at  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  stream  was  en- 
tered by  the  few  Jamestown  colonists  who,  during  the  latter  part  of 
July,  1608,  embarked  on  their  "second  voyage  to  discover  the 
Bay."     Describing  their  experiences: 

"Entring  the  River  of  Toclcwogh,  the  Salvages  all  armed  in  a 
fleete  of  Boates  round  invironed  us.  It  chanced  one  of  them  could 
speake  the  language  of  Powhatan,  who  perswaded  the  rest  to  a 
friendly  parly.  .  .  they  conducted  us  to  their  pallizadoed  towne, 
mantellecl  with  the  barkes  of  trees,  with  Scaffolda  like  mounts, 
brested  about  with  Barks  very  formally.  Their  men,  women,  and 
children,  with  dances,  songs,  fruits,  fish,  furres,  and  what  they  had 
kindly  entertained  us,  spreading  mats  for  us  to  sit  on,  and  stretching 
their  best  abilities  to  express  their  loves.  Many  hatchets,  knives, 
and  peeces  of  yron  and  brasse,  we  saw;  which  they  reported  to  have 
from  the  Sasquesalianockes,  a  mighty  people,  and  mortall  enimies 
with  the  Massawomeclces."     (Smith,  (2),  pp.  117-118.) 

This  settlement  appears  to  have  been  rich  and  prosperous.  Could 
it  have  been  the  one  mentioned  in  the  instructions  issued  to  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  when  he  went  to  the  colony  in  1609?  In  that  inter- 
estmg  and  cj[uaintly  worded  document  it  w^as  told  that  "North  at 
the  head  of  the  Bay  is  a  lardge  towne  where  is  store  of  Copp  and  if  urs 
called  Cataanron  that  trade  and  discovery  will  be  to  great  purpose  if 
it  may  be  settled  yearely." 

Shell  heaps  along  the  shore  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  on  the  banks 
of  the  many  streams  which  flow  into  it,  indicate  the  positions  of 
ancient  villages  many  of  which  were  occupied  long  after  the  year 


BUSHNELLJ 


NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  31 


1607,  and  among  these  various  sites  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Choptank,  a  short  distance  below  Cambridge, 
Dorchester  County,  Maryland.  This  was  the  position  of  a  Nanticoke 
town  which  was  occupied  by  them  until  the  year  1722  (Mercer, 
(1),  p.  98),  and  was  indicated  on  the  Herrman  map  of  1673  by  the 
legend  "Indian  Towns."  The  Nanticoke  were  related  linguistically 
with  the  Delaware  and  by  some  are  thought  to  have  been  the  early 
Tocwogh.  However,  both  names  were  mentioned  by  Smith.  The 
site  below  Cambridge  will  at  once  recall  the  present  condition  of  the 
ancient  settlement  at  Corn  Hill,  just  north  of  Pamet  Kiver,  on  Cape 
Cod.  The  site  on  the  bank  of  the  Choptank  has  been  covered  by 
ch'ifting  sand  in  places  to  a  depth  of  more  than  20  feet.  Now  the 
surface  upon  which  the  village  stood  is  indicated  "by  a  dark  lino  on 
the  face  of  the  cliff  bordering  the  river.  This  line  is  seldom  more  than 
a  foot  m  thickness,  and  while  the  sand  beneath  it  is  often  discolored 
through  infiltration  of  matter  from  the  old  surface,  the  superstratum 
is  quite  pure.  As  the  bank  falls  away  into  the  encroaching  waters 
camp  refuse  is  revealed,  objects  of  stone  and  fractured  pebbles  are 
found,  and  bits  of  earthenware  are  numerous.  Traces  of  an  ancient 
hearth  were  once  exposed  on  the  face  of  the  cliff  but  the  stones  soon 
fell  away.  A  rather  large  ossuary  was  exposed  beneath  the  black 
stratum.  The  bones  were  not  in  any  order  and  no  objects  of  any 
kind  were  associated  with  them.  How  interesting  would  be  a  de- 
tailed description  of  this  ancient  village  which  stood  less  than  two 
centuries  ago.  But  it  may  be  assumed  the  habitations  were  the 
dome-shaped  wigwam,  covered  with  mats  or  sheets  of  bark,  as 
described  in  a  journal  of  a  voyage  to  Maryland  in  1705.  From  the 
original  manuscript  preserved  in  the  British  Museum  the  following 
quotation  is  made: 

"They  take  Care  to  build  there  Cabbins  which  they  always  doe  on' 
a  swamp  or  Branch  neare  to  a  Little  run  of  water,  they  Cutt  downe 
halfe  a  dozen  forked  Poles  and  sett  'm  up  on  end,  then  they  cutt 
Downe  some  small  Poles  for  Rafters  and  so  Covering  it  with  Barke, 
they  make  there  fire  in  the  Middle  of  the  Cabbm  and  so  lye  Round 
itt  upon  Matts  or  Bears  skuis."     (Bushnell,  (2),  pp.  535-536.) 

Unfortunately  the  manuscript  does  not  bear  the  name  of  its  author, 
nor  the  place  where  the  observations  were  made,  but  the  description 
would  probably  apply  to  the  entire  region,  on  the  shore  of  the  bay 
as  well  as  inland. 

Quite  similar  to  these  were  the  structures  of  the  people  of  tidewater 
Virginia,  the  tribes  of  the  Powhatan  confederacy,  with  whom  the 
colonists  came  in  contact  during  the  spring  of  1607.  Fortunatel}' 
an  excellent  description  of  their  villages  has  been  preserved  and  is 
quoted  at  length  (Strachey,  (1),  pp.  70-76): 

''Theire  habitations  or  townes  are  for  the  most  part  by  the  rivers, 
or  not  far  distant  from  fresh  springs,  comonly  upon  a  rice  of  a  hill 


32  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

that  they  may  overlooke  the  river,  and  take  every  small  thing  into 
view  which  sturrs  upon  the  same.  Their  howses  are  not  many  in  one 
towne,  and  those  that  are  stand  dissite  [dispersed]  and  scattered 
without  forme  of  a  street,  farr  and  wyde  asunder.  As  for  their 
howses,  who  knoweth  one  of  them  knoweth  them  all,  even  the  chief 
kyng's  house  yt  selfe,  for  they  be  all  alike  builded  one  to  the  other. 
They  are  like  garden  arbours,  at  best  like  our  sheppards'  cotages, 
made  yet  handsomely  enough,  though  without  strength  or  gaynes,  of 
such  yong  plants  as  they  can  pluck  up,  bow,  and  make  the  greene 
toppes  meete  together,  in  fashion  of  a  round  roofe,  which  they  thatch 
with  matts  throwne  over.  The  walles  are  made  of  barkes  of  trees, 
but  then  those  be  principall  howses,  for  so  many  barkes  which  goe 
to  the  making  up  of  a  howse  are  long  tyme  of  purchasing.  In  the 
midst  of  the  howse  there  is  a  louer  [i.  e.  chimney  or  vent],  out  of  which 
the  smoake  issueth,  the  fier  being  kept  right  under.  Every  house 
comonly  hath  twoo  dores,  one  before  and  a  posterne.  The  doores  be 
hinig  with  matts,  never  locked  nor  bolted,  but  only  those  matts  be  to 
turne  upp,  or  lett  fall  at  pleasure;  and  their  howses  are  so  comonly 
placed  under  covert  of  trees,  that  the  violence  of  fowle  weather, 
snOwe,  or  raine,  cannot  assalt  them,  nor  the  sun  in  summer  annoye 
them ;  and  the  roofe  being  covered,  as  I  say,  the  wynd  is  easily  kept 
out,  insomuch  as  they  are  as  warm  as  stoves,  albeit  very  smoakey 
Wyndowes  they  have  none,  but  the  light  comes  in  at  the  doore  and 
at  the  louer.  .  ,  .  By  theire  howses  they  have  sometymes  a  scaena, 
or  high  stage,  raised  like  a  scaffold,  of  small  spelts,  reedes,  or  dried 
osiers,  covered  with  matts,  which  both  gives  a  shadowe  and  is 
a  shelter,  and  serves  for  such  a  covered  place  where  men  used  in 
old  tyme  to  sitt  and  talke  for  recreation  or  pleasure,  which  they 
called  praestega,  and  where,  on  a  loft  of  hurdells,  they  laye  forth 
their  corne  and  fish  to  dry.  They  eate,  sleepe,  and  dresse  theire 
meate  all  under  one  roofe,  and  in  one  chamber,  as  it  were. 

"Rownd  about  the  house  on  both  sides  are  theire  bedstedes,  which 
are  thick  short  posts  stalkt  into  the  ground,  a  foot  high  and  some- 
what more,  and  for  the  sydes  small  poles  layed  along,  with  a  hurdle 
of  reeds  cast  over,  wherein  they  rowle  downe  a  fyne  white  matte  or 
twoo  (as  for  a  bedd)  when  they  goe  to  sleepe,  and  the  which  the 
rowle  up  againe  in  the  morning  when  the  rise,  as  we  doe  our  palletts. 
.  .  .  About  their  howses  they  have  commonly  square  plotts  of  cleered 
grownd,  which  serve  them  for  gardens,  some  one  hundred,  some  two 
hundred  foote  square,  wherein  they  sowe  their  tobacco,  pumpons,  and 
a  fruit  like  unto  a  musk  millino,  ...  In  March  and  Aprill  they  live 
much  upon  their  weeres,  and  feed  on  fish,  turkies,  and  squirrells,  and 
then,  as  also  sometymes  in  May,  they  plant  their  fields  and  sett  their 
corne.  .  .  .  ^In  the  tyme  of  their  huntings,  they  leave  their  habita- 
tions, and  gather  themselves  into  companyes,  as  doe  the  Tartars, 


BisHNELL]  NATIVE    VILLAGP:S   AND    VILLAGE    SITES  33 

and  goe  to  the  most  desart  places  with  their  families,  where  they  passe 
the  tyme  with  hunting  and  fowling  up  towards  the  mountaines,  by 
the  heads  of  their  rivers,  wher  in  deed  there  is  plentye  of  game,  .  .  . 
Theire  huntinge  howses  are  not  soe  laboured,  substancyall,  nor 
artyficyall  as  their  other,  but  are  like  our  soldiers'  cabms,  the  frame 
sett  up  in  too  or  three  howers,  cast  over  head  with  matts,  which  the 
women  beare  after  them  as  they  carry  likewise  corne,  acornes, 
morters,  and  all  bag  and  baggage  to  use,  when  they  come  to  the 
place  where  they  purpose  for  the  tyme  to  hunt." 

It  is  interestmg  to  compare  the  preceding  account  of  the  life  and 
customs  of  the  southern  Algonquian  tribes  with  Roger  Williams's 
description  of  the  manners  of  the  Narraganset,  especially  when  it 
is  realized  that  both  were  written  during  the  same  generation.  In 
the  North,  forced  by  the  severity  of  the  long  winters,  it  is  evident 
many  sought  the  protection  of  "'thick  warme  vallies,"  which  was  not 
necessary  in  the  South.  But  when  the  hunting  season  came  the 
different  families  would  remove  to  a  distance,  where  game  was  plenti- 
ful and  more  easily  obtained,  and  there  establish  their  rather  tempo- 
rary hunting  camps  by  erecting  shelters  of  bark,  easily  and  c[uickly 
raised.  To  secure  food  was  not  the  only  reason  for  undertaking 
these  distant  journeys,  as  many  skins  had  to  be  obtained,  later  to 
be  tanned  and  made  into  moccasins  and  various  garments,  and  to 
serve  various  purposes  in  the  wig^vams. 

Many  ancient  sites  have  been  discovered  along  the  streams  of 
tidewater  Virginia,  marking  the  positions  of  the  villages  indicated 
by  Capt.  John  Smith.  Many  of  these  had  undoubtedly  been  visited 
by  Strachey  and  were  kno\^^l  to  him  before  he  prepared  his  general 
description.  In  some  localities  banks  of  oyster  shells,  mtermingled 
with  bits  of  pottery,  implements  of  stone  and  bone,  and  fragments  of 
bones  of  animals  wliich  had  served  as  food,  alone  mark  the  position 
of  some  ancient  settlement  wliich  may  have  been  frequented  by  the 
first  colonists.  Of  other  sites  fewer  traces  remain,  and  in  some 
instances  all  evidence  has  disappeared.  Kecoughtan,  which  stood 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  James,  near  its  mouth,  and  was  probably 
the  second  of  the  native  villages  seen  by  the  Jamesto^\Ti  colonists 
in  1607,  has  left  very  little  to  mark  its  position,  and  the  same  is  true 
of  other  sites  wliich  figured  in  the  early  history  of  the  colonies. 

Adjoining  the  Virginia  tribes  on  the  south,  and  differing  in  no 
manner  from  them,  were  the  villages  discovered  by  the  English 
expeditions  sent  out  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  When  the  first  ships 
arrived  off  the  coast  in  July,  1584,  they  reached  "an  Island,  which 
they  call  Raonoak,  distant  fiom  the  harbour  by  which  we  entred, 
seven  leagues:  and  at  the  North  end  thereof  was  a  village  of  nine 
houses,  built  of  Cedar,  and  fortified  roimd  about  with  sharp  trees, 
108851°— 19 3 


34  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

to  keep   out   their   enemies   and   tlie   entrance  into  it  made  like  a 
tm-ne  pike  very  artificially."     (Hakluyt,  (1),  III,  p.  248.) 

The  second  expedition,  which  sailed  from  Plymouth  April  9,  1585, 
reached  the  island  of  Wococon  late  in  June.  On  July  3  they  sent 
word  of  their  arrival  'Ho  Wingina  at  Roanoak."  On  July  12  they 
reached  ''the  Towne  of  Pomeioke,"  and  three  days  later,  July  15, 
"came  to  Secotan,  and  were  well  entertained  there  of  the  Savages," 
on  the  18th  returning  to  Wococon. 

Among  the  members  of  tliis  expedition  was  'Maister  Jhon  White 
an  Englisch  paynter  who  was  sent  into  the  contrye  by  the  queenes 
Maiestye,  onlye  to  draw  the  description  of  the  place,  lyuely  to  de- 
scribe the  shapes  of  the  Inhabitants  their  appareU,  manners  of 
Livinge,  and  fashions,  att  the  speciall  Charges  of  the  worthy  knighte. 
Sir  Walter  Ralegh."  The  original  water  color  drawings  made  at 
that  time  by  White  are  now  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
such  as  are  used  in  the  present  work  are  reproduced  from  photographs 
made  by  the  writer.  Fortunately,  among  the  drawings  made  by 
White  were  general  views  of  the  towns  of  Secotan  and  Pomeioc. 
These,  with  others  of  the  collection,  were  first  engraved  by  De  Bry 
and  published  in  1591  to  accompany  Harlot's  Narrative,  appearing 
as  the  first  part  of  De  Bry's  great  collection  of  voyages. 

The  original  drawing  of  Secotan,  which  is  here  reproduced  as  plate  5, 
differs  in  many  details  from  the  engraving  which  appeared  as  plate  20 
in  De  Bry.  The  text  accompanying  the  illustration  described  the 
large  building  in  the  lower  left  corner  as  one  "wherein  are  the  tombes 
of  their  kings  and  princes,  as  will  appere  by  the  22."  The  habitations 
are  shown  with  the  mat  or  bark  coverings  removed  so  as  to  reveal 
the  interior,  with  raised  platforms  wliich  served  as  sleeping  places. 
Ceremonies  are  portrayed  and  food  is  shown  in  large  vessels  resting 
upon  mats  spread  on  the  ground.  In  the  upper  right  corner,  in  the 
midst  of  a  field  of  "Their  rype  corne"  is  "a  scaffolde  wher  on  they 
sett  a  cottage  like  a  rownde  chaire  .  .  .  wherin  they  place  one  to 
watche,  for  there  are  suche  nomber  of  fowles,  and  beasts,  that  unless 
they  keepe  the  better  watche,  they  would  soone  devoure  aU  their 
corne.  For  which  cause  the  watcheman  maketh  continual  cryes 
and  noyse."  Similar  watch  houses  were  erected  in  the  fields  by  the 
Indians  of  New  England,  and  may  at  times  have  been  mistaken  for 
small  habitations. 

White's  drawmg  of  Pomeioc  was  engraved  and  presented  as 
plate  19  by  De  Bry.  The  original  drawing,  a  photograph  of  which 
is  shown  in  plate  6,  Z),  bears  this  legend:  "The  towne  of  Pomeiock 
and  true  forme  of  their  howses  covered  and  enclosed  some  w*^** 
matts  and  some  w*'^  barcks  of  trees.  All  compassed  abowt  w*^ 
smale  poles  stock  thick  together  in  stedd  of  a  wall."  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  illustration  in  De  Bry  refers  to  the  large  closed  structure 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   yiLLAGE    SITES  35 

with  the  pomted  roof  as  "their  temple  separated  from  the  other 
howses  .  .  .  yt  is  builded  rownde,  and  covered  with  skynne  matts, 
and  as  yt  wear  compassed  abowt  with  cortynes  without  windowes, 
and  hath  noo  hghte  but  by  the  doore.  On  the  other  side  is  the  kings 
lodgmge,"  Continuing,  the  account  says:  "They  keepe  their  feasts 
and  make  good  cheer  together  in  the  midds  of  the  towne  as  yt  is 
described  in  the  17  Figure."  This  refers  to  the  seventeenth  plate  in 
De  Bry,  the  origmal  of  which  is  here  reproduced  as  plate  6,  a.  In  the 
engravmg  the  drawmg  has  been  reversed  and  a  fanciful  background 
added.  It  there  bears  the  title  "Their  manner  of  prainge  with  Rat- 
tels  abowt  the  iyerJ'  The  description  of  the  drawing  as  given  by 
De  Bry  was  probably  told  him  by  White,  as  follows: 

''When  they  have  escaped  any  great  danger  by  sea  or  lande,  or  be 
retm'ned  from  the  warr  in  token  of  Joye  they  make  a  great  f yer  abowt 
which  the  men,  and  woemen  sitt  together,  holdinge  a  certaine  fruite 
in  their  hands  like  unto  a  rownde  pompion  or  a  gourde,  which  after 
they  have  taken  out  the  fruits,  and  the  seedes,  then  fill  with  small 
stons  or  certayne  bigg  kemells  to  make  the  more  noise,  and  fasten 
that  uppon  a  sticke,  and  singinge  after  their  manner,  they  make 
merrie:  as  my  selfe  observed  and  noted  downe  at  my  beinge  amonge 
them.     For  it  is  a  strange  custome,  and  worth  the  observation." 

Secotan  and  Pomeioc,  as  viewed  by  White,  were  probably  typical 
of  all  Algonquian  settlements  of  tidewater  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
Carolina.  Kecoughtan,  as  already  mentioned,  stood  on  the  north 
side  of  the  James  near  its  mouth,  and  may  at  one  time  have  occupied 
the  lowland  near  the  mouth  of  a  small  stream  which  now  forms  the 
boundary  between  Warwick  and  Elizabeth  City  Counties.  This  site 
was  visited  during  the  summer  of  1915  and  several  stone  implements, 
many  bits  of  pottery,  chips  of  flint  and  quartz,  and  broken  shells  lay 
scattered  over  the  surface.  Traces  of  former  occupancy  are  to  be 
found  at  many  places  along  the  shore  both  above  and  below  the 
stream.  All  may  have  been  left  by  the  people  of  Kecoughtan  at 
different  periods.  In  the  year  1607,  soon  after  the  arrival  of  the 
colonists  at  Jamestown,  Smith  wrote : 

"  I  was  sent  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  to  Kegquouhtan  an  Indian 
Towne,  to  trade  for  Corne,  and  try  the  river  for  Fish,  but  our  fishing 
we  could  not  effect  by  reason  of  the  stormy  weather  .  .  .  The  Towne 
conteineth  eighteene  houses,  pleasantly  seated  upon  three  acres  of 
ground,  uppon  a  plaine,  half  invironed  with  a  gi*eat  Bay  of  the  great 
River,  the  other  parte  with  a  Baye  of  the  other  River  falling  into  the 
great  Ba^^e,  with  a  little  He  fit  for  a  Castle  in  the  mouth  thereof,  the 
Towne  adjoyning  to  the  maine  by  a  necke  of  Land  sixtie  yardes." 

At  this  time  the  settlement  probably  stood  east  of  the  boundary 
stream,  in  or  near  Hampton.  Werowacomoco,  the  favorite  village 
of  Powhatan,  where  Capt.  John  Smith  arrived  about  the  beginning 


36  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [buluGO 

of  the  year  1608,  was  located  on  tlie  left  bank  of  the  York,  evidently 
at  "Rosewell,"  near  White  Marsh,  Gloucester  County.  Here  the 
lawn  is  washed  by  the  tide,  revealing  implements  of  stone,  broken 
pottery,  masses  of  oyster  shells,  charcoal,  and  other  traces  of  Indian 
occupancy.  Smith  has  left  an  interesting  description  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the  great  chief  and  his  surroundings  at  that  time  (Smith, 
(1),  pp.  18-19): 

"Arriving  at  Weramocomoco  their  Emperour  proudly  lying  uppon  a 
Bedstead  a  foote  high,  upon  tenne  or  twelve  Mattes,  richly  hung  with 
manie  Chaynes  of  great  Pearles  about  his  necke,  and  covered  with  a 
great  Covering  of  Rahaughcums.  At  [his]  heade  sat  a  woman,  at 
his  feete  another;  on  each  side  sitting  uppon  a  Matte  uppon  the 
ground,  were  ranged  his  chiefe  men  on  each  side  the  fire,  tenne 
in  a  ranke,  and  behinde  them  as  many  yong  women,  each  [with]  a 
great  Chaine  of  white  Beads  over  their  shoulders,  their  heades 
painted  in  redde:  and  [Powhatan]  with  such  a  grave  and  Majesticall 
countenance,  as  drave  me  into  admiration  to  see  such  state  in  a  naked 
Salvage." 

Such  was  the  barbaric  splendor  surrounding  the  ruling  chief  of  the 
confederacy  at  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  Virginia.  At  that  time, 
according  to  the  map  prepared  by  Capt.  Smith,  there  were  some  200 
native  villages  mtliin  the  region,  more  than  three-quarters  of  which 
were  linown  by  name.  Many  were  designated  ''Kings  howses," 
others  as  "Ordinary  howses,"  the  former  referring  to  the  larger  towns 
where  there  was  probably  a  recognized  chief  or  headman,  tlie  latter 
being  less  important  or  mere  temporary  camps. 

A  manuscript  in  the  British  Museum  throws  light  on  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  native  villages  along  the  principal  water  courses,  and 
describes  the  position  of  the  country  occupied  by  the  colony.  This 
quaintly  worded  document  is  signed  "Tho.  Martin"  and  bears  the 
date  "  IStli  of  Dec.  1622,"  that  being  the  year  of  the  great  massacre. 
Part  of  the  account  reads  CMs.  vol.  12496,  fol.  456) : 

"That  parte  of  Virginia  w*^  in  w*  we  are  seated  and  fitt  to  bee 
settled  on  for  many  hundred  yards  [?].  It  is  within  y®  Territories  of 
Opiehakano,  it  lyeth  on  the  west  side  of  Chesapiocke  baye,  wliich 
comandeth  from  the  southermost  parte  of  y®  fourth  river  called 
Potomeck  W^  lyeth  north  next  hand  to  y  River  some  50  leagues  in 
Latitude.  In  longitude  it  extendeth  to  the  MonaMns  countrie  next 
hand  west  and  west  and  by  North  of  equall  length  with  the  latitude, 
his  owne  principal!  state  is  in  y^  seacond  River  called  Pamunlcey  in 
the  heart  of  his  own  inhabited  territories.  This  revolted  Indian 
King  with  Ms  squaw  comaundeth  32  Kingdomes  under  him.  Everye 
Kingdome  contayneinge  y^  quantitie  of  one  of  y®  shires  here  in 
England.     Eavery  such  Kingdome  hath  one  speciall  Towne  seated 


t. 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND  VILLAGE   SITES  S7 

upon  one  of  j^  tliree  gi'cate  Rivers  with,  sufficience  of  cleared  gi'ound 
for  y^  plowe  &  bravely  accomadated  for  fishing." 

The  "speeiall"  towns  were  evidently  the  "kings  howses"  of 
Smith,  standing  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers  which  furnished  easy  com- 
munication between  the  many  villages.  Such,  was  the  condition  of 
tidewater  Virginia  three  centuries  ago. 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  Virginia,  and  for 
many  yea,rs  after,  the  Powhatan  tribe  occupied  the  comitry  about  the 
Falls  of  the  James,  the  site  now  covered  by  the  city  of  Richmond. 
Wlien  first  visited  by  the  colonists,  in  1607,  Wahunsonacock  was  the 
chief  of  the  tribe,  but  soon  he  became  known  to  the  settlers  by  the 
tribal  name,  Powhatan,  meaning  "at  the  falls,"  and  which  was 
variously  spelled  Powatah,  Powite,  etc.  A  map  of  the  greatest 
interest,  showing  this  site  as  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1663, 
is  reproduced  in  plate  7.  This  is  copied  from  the  manuscript  volume 
bearing  title  "B3Td  Title  Book,"  now  preserved  by  the  Virginia 
Historical  Society.  The  small  village  of  the  'Towite  Indians," 
shown  on  the  map  at  the  mouth  of  Shaccoe  Creek,  corresponds  with 
the  position  of  the  foot  of  Sixteenth  Street,  Richmond,  now  covered 
with  tracks  and  warehouses.  This  small  village  had  evidently  sur- 
vived the  uprisings  of  1622  and  1644,  and  the  troubles  attending  the 
expulsion  of  the  Indians  who,  about  the  year  1654,  "lately  sett 
downe  near  the  falls  of  James  river,  to  the  number  of  six  or  seaven 
hundreds"  (Hening,  (1),  I,  p.  402.)  Contrary  to  the  belief  and 
statements  of  many  writers,  it  would  appear,  by  reason  of  these 
newcomers  having  been  located  "neer  the  falls  of  James  river"  for 
some  months,  that  they  came  not  as  enemies  seeking  to  attack  the 
colonists,  but  for  the  purpose  of  finding  a  new  home.  Their  identity 
has  not  been  fully  established,  although  it  has  been  suggested,  and 
with  good  reason,  that  they  may  have  been  a  band  of  Yuchi,  then 
recently  expelled  from  their  ancient  seats  among  the  mountains  to 
the  west  of  the  headwaters  of  the  James.  Others  believe  them  to 
have  been  Cherokee,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  explam  the  desire  of 
the  latter  to  seek  a  new  home,  far  away  from  their  long  occupied  sites. 

Probably  the  most  convincing  argument  regarding  the  identity 
of  these  people  is  presented  in  the  following  statement  by  Mr.  James 
Mooney : 

In  an  earlier  Bureau  publication  the  present  writer  assumed 
that  the  Rechahecrian  or  Rickohockan  were  identical  with  the 
Cherokee,  based  chiefly  upon  the  staternents  of  the  Virginia  records 
and  of  the  traveler  Lederer  (1670)  that  they  came  from,  or  resided 
in,  the  mountain  region  at  the  back  of  Vhginia  and  Carolina.  Later 
consideration,  however,  indicates  a  possibility  that  they  may  have 
been  the  Erie — ^variously  knowai  as  Eriga,  Rique,  Riquehronnon 
and  Rike-haka — a  powerful  tribe  of  Iroquoian  stock  residing,  when 


38  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAIsr   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

first  known,  along  the  southeastern  shores  of  Lake  Erie  and  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Allegheny  River,  but  who,  as  the  result  of  a 
desperate  three  years'  war  with  the  confederated  Iroquois,  1653- 
1655,  were  utterly  defeated  and  destroyed  as  a  people,  a  part  of 
the  survivors  being  incorporated  with  the  conquerors,  while  the 
rest  fled  to  the  southward,  as  did  the  kindred  Susquehanna  for  the 
same  cause  and  from  the  same  enemy  20  years  later." 

The  manners  and  customs  of  the  western  Algonquians  do  not 
appear  to  have  diflered  greatly  from  those  of  the  eastern  tribes,  and 
their  villages  were  quite  similar  in  appearance,  but  they  were  not 
known  to  Europeans  until  some  years  after  the  settlement  of  James- 
town in  the  year  1607.  Now,  with  the  country  so  thickly  settled, 
it  is  of  the  greatest  interest  to  trace  the  journeys  of  the  early  French 
missionaries  and  explorers  through  the  unexplored  wilderness  between 
the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi.  Of  the  many  who  entered 
this  western  country  the  names  of  Marquette  and  La  Salle  will  ever 
remain  the  most  promment  in  history. 

The  region  of  lakes  and  forests  south  of  Lake  Superior  must  have 
been  occupied  by  many  camps  and  villages,  for  when  writing  ''  of  the 
peoples  connected  with  the  Mission  of  Saint  Esprit,  at  the  point 
called  Chagaouamigong,"  it  was  said: 

"More  than  fifty  Villages  can  be  counted,  which  comprise  divers 
peoples,  either  nomadic  or  stationary,  who  depend  in  some  sort  on 
this  Mission"  (p.  165).  They  resorted  to  this  spot  for  trade,  even 
the  distant  Illinois  being  among  the  number  to  gather  here.  And 
in  mentioning  the  latter  in  detail  the  narrative  continued:  "The 
Ilinois,  tribes  extending  toward  the  South,  have  five  large  Villages, 
of  which  one  has  a  stretch  of  three  leagues,  the  cabins  being  placed 
lengthwise.  They  number  nearly  two  thousand  souls,  and  repair  to 
this  place  from  time  to  time  in  great  numbers,  as  Merchants,  to 
carry  away  hatchets  and  kettles,  guns,  and  other  articles  that  they 
need.  Dm-ing  the  sojourn  that  they  make  here,  we  take  the  oppor- 
tunity to  sow  in  their  hearts  the  first  seeds  of  the  Gospel.  Fuller 
mention  wiU  be  hereafter  made  of  these  peoples,  and  of  the  desire 
which  they  manifest  to  have  one  of  our  Fathers  among  them  to 
instruct  them;  and  also  of  the  plan  formed  by  Father  Marquette  to 
go  thither  next  Autumn."     (Dablon,  (1),  p.  167.) 

This  related  to  events  during  the  years  1669  and  1670.  The  mission 
stood  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  The  number  of  villages 
mentioned,  if  correct,  must  necessarily  have  included  many  of  only  a 
few  wigwams,  but  nevertheless  the  Mission  of  St.  Esprit  must  have 
been  an  important  gathering  place,  some  coming  from  their  homes 
on  distant  lakes  and  rivers  in  light  bark  canoes  to  barter  their  beaver 
skins  for  weapons  and  utensils  brought  by  traders  from;  MontreaL 
And  an  animated  scene  it  must  have  been,  Jesuits  and  traders,  with 


BCSHNELL]  NATIVE    VILLAGES    AND   VILLAGE    SITES  39 

the  gathering  of  Indians,  many  of  whom  had  never  before  seen  a 
Em-opean. 

On  May  17,  1673,  Marquette  and  Johet,  with  five  men,  embarked 
in  two  oanoes  and  started  from  the  Mission  of  St.  Ignace  at  MichiH- 
mackinao  to  penetrate  the  unknown  region.  They  passed  through 
Green  Bay  and  entered  Fox  River,  having  stopped  at  the  Menominee 
village,  and  on  June  7  reached  the  great  town  of  the  Mascoutens  near 
the  portage  leading  from  the  Fox  to  the  Wisconsin.  Here  were 
found,  in  addition  to  the  Mascoutens,  some  Miami  and  Kickapoo 
forming  one  settlement. 

"This  Village  Consists  of  three  Nations  who  have  gathered  there, — 
Miamis,  Maskoutens,  and  Kikabous.  The  former  are  the  most  civil, 
the  most  liberal,  and  the  most  shapely.  They  wear  two  long  looks 
over  their  ears,  which  give  them  a  pleasing  appearance.  They  are 
regarded  as  warriors,  and  rarely  undertake  expeditions  without 
being  successful  .  .  .  The  Maskoutens  and  Kikabous  are  ruder, 
and  seem  peasants  in  Comparison  with  the  others.  As  Bark  for 
making  Cabins  is  scarce  in  this  country.  They  use  Rushes;  these 
serve  Them  for  making  walls  and  Roofs,  but  do  not  afi"ord  them  much 
protection  against  the  winds,  and  still  less  against  rains  when  they 
fall  abundantly.  The  Advantage  of  Cabins  of  this  kind  is,  that 
they  make  packages  of  Them,  and  easily  transport  them  wherever 
they  wish,  while  they  are  hunting."     (Marquette,  (1),  p.  102.) 

Three  days  later,  having  secured  two  Miami  men  to  accompany 
them  as  guides,  they  made  the  portage  to  the  Wisconsin  River 
and  "thus  we  left  the  Waters  flowing  to  Quebeq,  4  or  500  Leagues 
from  here,  to  float  on  Those  that  would  thenceforward  Take  us 
through  strange  .  .  .  lands  and,  at  42  and  a  half  degrees  Of  latitude. 
We  safely  entered  Missisipi  on  the  17th  of  June,  with  a  Joy  that  I 
cannot  Express."  Floating  down  the  Mississippi,  they  soon  arrived 
at  the  village  of  the  Peoria,  an  Illinois  tribe,  then  living  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Mississippi  probably  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  Des 
Moines.  The  town  consisted  of  about  300  large  wigwams,  "roofed 
and  floored  with  mats  of  Rushes,"  and  there  is  reason  to  suppose 
there  was  one  structure  larger  than  the  others  where  ceremonies 
were  held,  as  Marquette,  in  referring  to  the  dance  of  the  Calumet 
(p.  133),  wrote: 

"In  Winter,  the  ceremony  takes  place  in  a  Cabin;  in  Summer, 
in  the  open  fields.  When  the  spot  is  selected,  it  is  completely  sur- 
rounded by  trees,  so  that  all  may  sit  in  the  shade  afforded  by  their 
leaves,  in  order  to  be  protected  from  the  heat  of  the  Sun." 

Such  a  gathering  could  not  have  taken  place  in  an  ordinary, 
small  dwelling,  and  there  w^as  undoubtedly  at  this  great  settlement 
a  "temple"  similar  to  that  discovered  among  the  same  people  some 
years  later. 


40  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

The  coming  of  the  French  was  hailed  with  joy  by  the  Ilhnois, 
and  as  they  entered  the  village  and  approached  a  cabin,  they  saw 
an  old  man  standing  at  the  door  ,who  greeted  them  in  these  words : 
"How  beautiful  the  sun  is,  O  Frenchman,  when  thou  comest  to 
visit  us!  All  our  village  awaits  thee,  and  thou  shalt  enter  all  our 
Cabins  in  peace." 

After  the  visit  of  the  French  the  Peoria  did  not  remain  long  on 
the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  They  removed  to  the  Illinois 
River,  where  they  were  again  met,  some  two  months  later,  by  Mar- 
quette on  his  journey  northward.  Here  they  were  visited  by  a 
French  officer,  in  the  year  1756,  who  left  an  interesting  account  of 
his  experiences,  together  with  a  brief  description  of  the  settlement: 

"The  village  of  the  Peorias  is  situated  on  the  banks  of  a  little  river, 
and  fortified  after  the  American  manner,  that  is  surrounded  with 
great  pales  and  posts.  When  we  were  arrived  there  I  enquired  for  the 
hut  of  the  grand  chief;  they  brought  me  to  a  great  hut,  where  the 
whole  nation  was  assembled,  on  account  of  a  party  of  their  warriors, 
who  had  been  beaten  by  the  Foxes,  their  mortal  enemies."  (Bossu, 
(1),  I,  pp.  188-191.) 

The  following  day  Bossu  encountered  a  great  gathering  on  the 
plain,  "making  a  dance  in  favour  of  their  new  Manitou,"  and  later 
he  entered  "at  the  door  of  the  temple  of  this  false  deity."  Quite 
similar  to  this  must  have  been  the  ceremony  mentioned  by  Mar- 
quette among  the  same  people  8.3  years  before. 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  a  "temple"  and  a  large  wigwam  occupied 
by  the  chief  were  the  principal  structures  in  the  village  of  the  Peoria, 
standing  on  or  near  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  River,  about  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  town  was  protected  by  palisades, 
but  the  older  village,  visited  by  Marquette,  may  not  have  been  so" 
guarded.  And  this  brief  description  is  suggestive  of  the  appearance 
of  ancient  Pomeioc  with  its  palisade,  surrounding  a  group  of  houses, 
including  a  "  temple  "  and  the  larger  wigwam  occupied  by  the  chief. 

The  great  town  of  the  Illinois,  visited  by  the  French  under  La 
Salle  about  the  last  days  of  the  year  1679,  may  have  been  typical 
of  the  open  settlements  of  the  western  Algonquian.  It  stood  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Illinois  River,  in  the  present  La  Salle  County, 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Vermilion,  the  Aramoni  of  the  French 
explorers,  wliich  enters  the  Illinois  from  the  south.  Just  above, 
but  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Illinois,  rises  the  steep  cliff.  Starved 
Rock,  La  RocJier  of  the  early  French.  The  village,  wliich  was  soon 
to  be  destroyed  by  the  Iroquois,  later  to  rise  again,  was  thus  described : 

"We  fell  down  the  said  River,  by  easie  Journeys,  the  better  to 
observe  that  countrey,  and  supply  our  selves  with  Provisions.  The 
Banks  of  that  River  are  very  charming  to  the  Eye,  as  useful  for  Life. 
The  Meadows,  Fruit-Trees,  and  Forests,  affording  every  thing  that 


BCSHNELL]  ITATIVE   VILLAGES   AND  \aLLAGE   SITES  41 

is  necessary  for  Man  and  Beasts,  so  that  being  amused  by  that 
agreeable  variety,  we  spent  six  days  from  the  Portage  (that  is  the 
place  where  we  Embarked)  to  the  first  village  of  the  Ulinois,  called 
Pontdalamia,  consisting  of  above  500  Cabins,  where  we  found  no 
Inhabitants.  We  went  ashore,  and  viewed  their  Cabbins  or  Cottages, 
which  are  made  with  great  pieces  of  Timber,  interlac'd  with  Branches, 
and  cover'd  with  Bark.  The  inside  is  more  neat,  the  Walls  or  sides, 
as  well  as  the  Floor,  being  finely  matted.  Every  Cottage  has  two 
Appartments,  wherein  several  Families  might  lodge,  and  under 
every  one  of  them  there  is  a  Cave  or  Vault,  wherein  they  preserve 
their  Indian-coTn,  of  wliich  we  took  a  sufficient  quantity,  because 
we  wanted  Provisions.''      (Tonti,  (1),  pp.  28-29.) 

This  was  the  village  of  the  Kaskaskia,  although  from  the  large 
number  of  wigwams  encoimtered  by  the  French  it  would  be  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  some  other  tribes  had  gathered  here.  It  was 
evidently  a  gathering  place  for  the  Illinois,  one  of  the  most  important 
centers  in  the  entire  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  reference  to  a 
"Cave  or  Vault"  within  every  mgwam,  where  corn,  and  undoubtedly 
other  possessions  as  well,  were  preserved,  is  of  special  interest  as  it 
tends  to  prove  the  permanent  nature  of  the  village  of  Pontdalamia; 
it  likewise  recalls  the  act  of  the  Pilgrims,  some  sixty  years  earlier, 
when  they  discovered  corn  in  pits  or  caches  near  the  scattered  native 
dwellings  on  Cape  Cod. 

Tlie  great  village  of  the  Illinois  was  occupied  until  about  the  year 
1703,  when  the  Kaskaskia,  moving  southward,  stopped  and  reared  a 
new  town  near  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  a  short  distance  above 
the  stream  which  perpetuates  their  tribal  name,  in  the  present 
Randolph  County,  Illinois.  But  between  the  time  of  the  arrival  of 
La  Salle,  during  the  winter  of  1679,  and  the  removal  some  years  later, 
the  settlement  was  often  visited  by  missionaries  and  traders.  But 
even  earlier,  in  1673,  it  was  a  resting  place  for  Marquette  during  his 
journey  up  the  Blinois  Eiver,  just  after  having  met  the  Peoria  for 
the  second  time,  and  on  his  map  the  village  was  given  the  name 
Kachkaskia.  At  that  time  it  consisted  of  74  houses.  Allouez  gave 
the  number  of  wigwams  standing  there  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  in 
1677,  as  351,  and  Hennepin  tiiree  years  later  increased  the  number 
to  460.  All  were  probably  correct,  as  it  is  well  known  that  the  Indians 
were  accustomed  to  move  from  place  to  place,  and  seldom  would 
all  have  been  gathered  in  the  village  at  the  same  time. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1692  Pere  Sebastien  Rasles  having  left 
his  winter  encampment  at  MissilimakinaJc ,  started  for  the  "country 
of  the  Illinois,"  and  WTote: 

"After  forty  days  of  travel  I  entered  the  river  of  the  Illinois,  and, 
after  voyaging  fifty  leagues,  I  came  to  their  first  Village,  which  had 
three  hundred  cabins,  all  of  them  mth  four  or  five  fires.     One  fire 


42  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bdll.69 

is  always  for  two  families.  They  have  eleven  Villages  belonging  to 
their  Tribe.  On  the  day  after  my  arrival,  I  was  invited  by  the 
principal  Chief  to  a  grand  repast,  which  he  was  giving  to  the  most 
important  men  of  the  Tribe.  .  .  .  When  all  the  guests  had  ar- 
rived they  took  their  places  all  about  the  cabin,  seating  themselves 
either  on  the  bare  ground  or  on  the  mats.  Then  the  Chief  arose 
and  began  his  address.  .  .  .  When  the  speech  was  finished,  two 
Savages,  who  performed  the  duty  of  stewards,  distributed  dishes  to 
the  whole  company,  and  each  dish  served  for  two  guests;  while  eat- 
ing, they  conversed  together  on  different  matters;  and  when  they 
had  finished  their  repast  they  withdrew,  carrying  away  according  to 
their  custom,  what  remained  on  their  dishes."  (Rasles,  (1),  pp. 
163-165.) 

From  these  various  accounts  it  would  appear  that  both  the  bark 
and  mat  covered  dwellings  stood  at  the  great  village  of  the  Illinois, 
but  the  latter  type  was  undoubtedly  the  more  numerous. 

Much  of  interest  regarding  the  daily  life  and  customs  of  the  people 
who  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Illinois,  during  the  closing  years  of 
the  seventeenth  centmy,  is  related  in  the  narrative  of  Pere  Rasles. 
They  raised  large  quantities  of  corn,  but  game  was  plentiful  and 
"among  all  the  Tribes  of  Canada,  there  is  not  one  that  lives  in  so 
great  abundance  of  everything  as  do  the  Illinois.  Their  rivers  are 
covered  with  swans,  bustards,  ducks,  and  teal."  Turkeys  were 
met  "in  troops,  sometimes  to  the  number  of  200,"  while  deer,  bears, 
and  buffalo  were  encountered  in  vast  numbers.  And  mentioning 
their  weapons  he  said: 

*  'Arrows  are  the  principal  weapons  that  they  use  in  war  and  in 
hunting.  These  arrows  are  barbed  at  the  tip  with  a  stone,  sharp- 
ened and  cut  in  the  shape  of  a  serpent's  tongue;  if  knives  are 
lacking,  they  use  arrows  also  for  flaying  the  animals  which  they  kill. 
They  are  so  adroit  in  bending  the  bow  that  they  scarcely  ever  miss 
their  aim ;  and  they  do  this  with  such  quickness  that  they  will  have 
discharged  a  hundred  arrows  sooner  than  another  person  can  reload 
his  gun.  They  take  little  trouble  to  make  net  suitable  for  catching 
fish  in  the  rivers,  because  the  abundance  of  all  kinds  of  animals 
which  they  find  for  their  subsistence  renders  them  somewhat  in- 
different to  fish.  However,  when  they  take  a  fancy  to  have  some, 
they  enter  a  canoe  with  their  bows  and  arrows;  they  stand  up  that 
they  may  better  discover  the  fish,  and  as  soon  as  they  see  one  they 
pierce  it  with  an  arrow.  .  .  .  The  war-club  is  made  of  a  deer's 
horn  or  of  wood,  shaped  like  a  cutlass  with  a  large  ball  at  the  end." 

With  these  primitive  weapons  they  would  wage  war  on  their 
enemies,  and  kill  the  game  of  the  forests  and  plauis. 

The  other  tribes  of  the  so-called  Illinois  confederacy  were  the 
Michigamea,  Cahokia,  and  Tamaroa,  with  possibly  one  or  more 
smaller  tribes  of  which  practically  nothing  is  known. 


BUSHNELL]  Is^ATIVE   ^^[LLAGES    AND   VILLAGE    SITES  43 

The  Michigamea,  ''great  water/'  were  encoiuitered  by  Marquette  in 
1673  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  northeastena  part 
of  the  present  State  of  Arkansas,  but  there  is  reason  to  suppose  they 
had  not  been  long  in  this  southern  home,  and  a  few  years  before  may 
have  left  the  valley  of  the  Illuiois.  On  the  d'Anville  map  of  1755 
the  present  Sangamon  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Illinois  flowing  from 
the  south,  bears  the  name  Emicouen  R.,  and  on  the  left  bank,  about 
35  miles  from  its  mouth,  is  indicated  the  Ancien  village  des  Metchi- 
gamias.  This  would  undoubtedly  place  the  site  of  the  town  within 
the  bounds  of  the  present  Sangamon  County,  where  several  large 
groups  of  rather  small  burial  mounds  on  the  hills  overlooking  the 
valley  of  the  Emicouen  bear  evidence  of  the  location  of  some  early 
settlement,  probably  that  of  the  Ancien  village  des  MetcJiigamias. 
But  on  the  same  map,  on  the  left  or  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
about  midway  between  the  Caliokias  et  Tamaroas  on  the  north  and 
the  Mission  des  CasJcaMas  on  the  south,  appears  the  name  Metclii- 
gamias,  evidently  indicating  the  position  of  their  village  wiience 
they  had  removed  after  having  been  met  by  Marquette  farther 
south.  However,  they  were  accustomed  to  go  north  and  winter 
with  their  kindred  Tamaroa,  whose  principal  village  was  near  the 
mouth  of  a  small  stream  which  entered  the  Mississippi  just  below  the 
first  bridge  built  across  the  river  at  St.  Louis.  This  was  undoubtedly 
the  position  of  the  Tamaroa  village  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1700 
when  it  was  visited  by  Pere  Gravier.  He  arrived  October  9  and  the 
town  was  evidently  deserted,  as  he  said: 

"At  two  leagues  from  the  village,  I  found  the  Tamarouha,  who 
have  taken  up  their  winter  quarters  in  a  beautiful  bay,  where  they 
await  the  Metchigamia,  who  are  to  come  over  sixty  leagues  to  winter, 
and  form  only  one  village  with  them.  One  of  our  missionaries  is  to 
v-isit  them  every  second  day  all  the  winter  long,  and  do  as  much  for 
the  Kaoukia,  who  have  taken  their  wmter  quarters  four  leagues 
above  the  village."     (Gravier,  (1),  p.  118.) 

The  Cahokia  and  Tamaroa  occupied  the  rich  lowlands  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  opposite  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  in  the  present 
St.  Clair  and  Madison  Counties,  Illinois.  The  village  of  the  tribes 
stood  near  the  mouth  of  the  small  stream,  already  mentioned,  which 
later  became  known  as  Cahokia  Creek,  a  name  which  it  now  bears. 
This  was  reached  by  La  Salle  on  February  3,  1682,  but  the  Cahokia 
were  not  mentioned  as  Tonti  wrote: 

"We  came  to  the  Village  of  the  Tamaoas,  where  we  met  with  no 
body  at  all,  the  Savages  bemg  retired  into  the  Woods  to  Winter; 
we  made  there  however  some  Marks  to  let  'em  know  that  we  had 
pass'dby."     (Tonti,  (1),  p.  77.) 

Evidently  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Illinois  tribes  to  leave  their 
villages  about  the  beginning  of  winter  and  to  seek  the  protection  and 


44  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

seclusion  of  the  vust  forests,  where  they  would  hunt  during  the  cold 
season,  but  game  was  so  plentiful  that  food  was  always  easily  and 
quickly  secured.  With  the  coming  of  spring  they  would  return  to 
their  v^illages  and  plant  large  fields  of  com,  which  grew  luxuriantly 
in  the  rich  black  soil. 

On  the  night  of  October  10,  1721,  Charleroix  remained  at  the 
''village  of  the  Caoquias  and  the  Tamarouas,  two  Illinois  tribes 
which  have  been  united,  and  together  compose  no  very  numerous 
canton.  This  village  is  situated  on  a  small  river  which  runs  from 
the  east,  and  has  no  water  but  in  the  spring  season  so  that  we  were 
obliged  to  walk  above  half  a  league,  before  we  could  get  to  our 
cabbins.  I  was  astonished  they  had  pitched  upon  so  inconvenient 
a  situation,  especially  as  they  had  so  many  belter  in  their  choice; 
but  I  was  told  that  the  Mississippi  washed  the  foot  of  that  village 
when  it  was  built,  that  in  three  years  it  has  lost  half  a  league  of  its 
breadth,  and  that  they  were  thinking  of  seeking  out  for  another 
habitation,  which  is  no  great  affair  amongst  the  Indians."  (Char- 
levoix, (1),  II,  pp.  218-219.) 

The  "Illinois  country"  remained  a  favorite  region  for  the  Indian 
long  after  the  coming  of  white  settlers.  As  already  mentioned,  the 
various  tribes  who  occupied  the  central  part  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  were  ever  moving  from  place  to  place,  seldom  remaining  for 
a  long  period  at  any  one  location.  Thus  a  century  after  Charlevoix 
passed  down  the  Illinois  and  en1>ered  the  Mississippi  extensive 
villages  of  the  Sauk  and  Fox  stood  on  the  banks  of  Kock  River,  near 
its  mouth,  and  consequently  on  or  near  the  left  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  the  present  Rock  Island  County,  Illinois. 

Fort  Armstrong  stood  at  the  lower  end  of  Rock  Island,  and  on 
Friday,  August  1,  1817,  Major  Long  ^v^ote: 

"Immediately  opposite  to  the  fort  on  the  south  side  of  the  river 
is  a  village  of  the  Fox  Indians,  containing  about  thirty  cabins,  with 
two  fires  each.  The  number  of  souls  at  this  village  is  probably 
about  five  hundred.  On  Rock  River,  two  mUes  above  its  mouth, 
and  three  across  the  point  from  Fort  Armstrong,  is  a  Sack  village, 
consisting  of  about  one  hundred  cabins,  of  two,  three,  and,  in  some 
instances,  four  fires  each.  It  is  by  far  the  largest  Indian  village 
situated  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Mississippi  between  St.  Louis 
and  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  The  whole  number  of  Indians  at  this 
village  amounts  probably  to  between  two  and  three  thousand. 
They  can  furnish  eight  or  nine  hundred  warriors,  aU  of  them  armed 
with  rifles  or  fusees.  The  Indians  of  these  two  villages  cultivate 
vast  fields  of  corn,  which  are  situated  partly  in  the  low  ground  and 
extend  up  the  slopes  of  the  bluffs.  They  have  at  present  several 
hundred  acres  under  improvement  in  this  way,"  (Long,  (1),  pp. 
68-69.) 


BisHNKLL]  NATIVE    VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  45 

These  villages  on  the  banks  of  Kock  River  dated  from  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  probably  presented  all  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  western  Algoncjuian  settlements. 
Their  habitations  undoubtedly  resembled  those  of  the  southern 
Ojibway,  an  oval,  dome-shaped  frame  covered  with  sheets  of  bark 
or  rush  mats.  A  typical  example  of  the  latter,  as  it  stood  on  the 
south  shore  of  Mille  Lac,  Minnesota,  during  the  spring  of  1900,  is 
sho-wn  in  plate  2,  l.  The  description  of  the  large  fields  of  corn  is 
interesting,  and  this  would  probably  have  applied  to  the  settlements 
of  the  Cahokia  and  Tamaroa  a  centmy  earlier.  These  two  Illinois 
tribes,  as  already  mentioned,  occupied  the  wide  lowland  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Mississippi  opposite  the  present  city  of  St.  Louis. 
The  crests  of  the  bluffs  bordering  this  area  on  the  east  reveal  many 
traces  of  the  period  of  Indian  occupancy,  ^^^th  innumerable  graves 
on  the  higher  points.  And  dm'ing  past  centuries  the  sunny  slopes 
of  the  bluffs  may  have  been  covered  by  the  gardens  and  cornfields 
of  the  native  tribes  who  then  claimed  this  fertile  region. 

The  Sauk  village  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  River  was  the  birth- 
place, in  the  year  1767,  of  the  great  leader  Black  Hawk,  who,  some 
65  years  later,  during  the  early  part  of  1832,  led  his  people  against 
the  frontier  settlements  of  Illinois.  His  village  had  been  destroyed 
by  the  militia  June  15,  1831,  after  the  escape  of  its  inhabitants,  but 
at  the  present  time  large  groups  of  small  burial  mounds  mark  the 
positions  of  these  late  native  settlements. 

From  the  preceding  quotations  it  will  be  underetood  how  a  region 
once  occupied  by  a  few  thousand  families  in  after  years  would  pre- 
sent the  appearance  of  formerly  having  been  the  home  of  a  gi'eat 
multitude.  Moving  from  place  to  place,  they  would  leave  traces 
of  their  villages  and  more  temporary  camps,  ashes  and  refuse  would 
accumulate,  bits  of  pottery  and  objects  of  stone  would  remain  lost 
and  scattered  over  the  smface,  to  be  found  at  the  present  day. 
Often  a  cemetery  or  a  few  graves  may  be  discovered  near  the  site 
of  the  wigwams.  Evidently  the  central  village,  often  surrounded 
by  or  in  the  vicinity  of  the  extensive  cornfields,  would  be  occupied 
during  the  spring,  summer,  and  early  autumn,  and  later  in  the 
year,  after  the  harvest,  it  would  be  temporarily  abandoned,  the  fami- 
lies removing  to  the  forests,  there  to  hunt  dming  the  ensuing  sea- 
son. Thus  one  group  of  families,  a  few  hundred  persons,  within  a 
single  generation,  would  have  occupied  several  widely  separated 
and  distinct  sites.  Such  was  the  condition  in  the  "country  of 
the  Illinois"  and  elsewhere  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic. 
Among  the  eastern  Algonquian  tribes,  as  related  by  Pere  Sebastien 
Rasles  when  describing  the  customs  of  the  Abnaki;  by  Roger 
Williams,  who  wrote  of  the  movements  of  the  Narraganset;  and  by 
Strachey  when  he  recorded  the  habits  of  the  confederated  tribes  of 


46  BUREAU   or   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

tidewater  Virginia  as  they  were  during  the  earhest  years  of  the 
colony,  the  inhabitants  of  a  village  would  leave  their  permanent 
settlements  during  certain  seasons  to  hunt  in  the  forests,  or  to  seek 
and  gather  oysters  and  clams  on  the  coast.  In  the  north  the  first 
move  from  the  winter  encampment  would  usually  be  to  the  "sugar 
camp,"  where  large  quantities  of  sugar  would  be  made  from  the 
sap  of  the  maple.  The  move  was  anticipated  with  genuine  pleasure 
by  the  northern  people,  as  it  marked  the  end  of  the  long  winter, 
when  the  sun  was  gaining  warmth,  but  the  nights  remained  cold 
and  frosty. 

The  Shawnee,  so  closely  allied  Imguistically  with  the  Sauk  and 
Fox,  before  the  removal  of  a  large  part  of  the  tribe  southward  to 
and  beyond  the  Ohio,  may  have  lived  near  the  Illinois  tribes.  Dur- 
ing their  movement  southward  they  evidently  stopped  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Wabash,  where  they  may  have  resided  for  some  time. 
Although  they  do  not  appear  to  have  been  encountered  in  that 
locality  by  Europeans,  the  tradition  of  their  having  lived  there  was 
undoubtedly  heard  by  the  early  French  explorers,  and  on  certain 
maps  dating  from  the  first  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  as  for 
example  on  the  Moll  map  of  1720,  the  site  of  their  village  is  indicated 
by  the  legend:  "Savanah  old  Settlement."  This  corresponds  with 
the  position  of  the  "Bone  bank,"  so-called  locally,  an  ancient  village 
site  on  tlie  left  bank  of  the  Wabash,  in  Posey  County,  Indiana.  By 
the  course  of  the  river  it  is  some  10  miles  above  its  junction  with 
the  Oliio,  but  in  an  air  line  not  more  than  2h  miles  from  the  latter 
stream.  The  site  occupied  the  summit  of  a  high  bluff  and  extended 
for  1,500  or  more  feet  along  the  river.  Its  width  could  not  be  deter- 
mined, as  it  had  been  constantly  worn  away  by  the  action  of  the 
waters  of  the  Wabash.  Innumerable  human  remains  and  vast  num- 
bers of  implements  and  ornaments  of  IncUan  origin  have  been  recovered 
from  the  site,  wliich,  however,  may  have  been  occupied  successively 
by  different  tribes,  or  by  the  same  people  at  intervals.  Neverthe- 
less it  must,  at  some  time,  have  been  the  site  of  a  Shawnee  village. 
Passing  southward  beyond  the  Ohio  the  Shawnee  evidently  estab- 
lished a  great  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland,  the  site  now 
covered  by  the  city  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  thousands  of  stone- 
lined  graves  marking  the  position  of  the  ancient  settlement.  A 
description  of  tliis  once  extensive  village  would  be  of  the  greatest 
interest,  but  none  has  been  preserved.  It  may,  however,  have 
resembled  Pontdalamia  on  the  Illinois. 

From  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland  one  or  more  bands  of  the 
Shawnee  moved  as  far  east  as  the  Savannah.  Later  some  turned 
westward  and  after  stopping  for  a  short  time  on  the  Chattahoochee 
settled  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tallapoosa,  near  Fort  Toulouse,  in 


BDSHNELL]  NATIVE    VILLAGES    AND   VILLAGE    SITES  47 

the  present  Montgomery  County,  Alabama.  Here  tliey  were  seated 
when  visited  by  Hawkins  on  December  19,  1796,  when  he  wrote: 

"  From  this  bank  arise  several  springs,  pai'ticularly  one,  a  large  one, 
half  a  mile  farther,  the  Uchee  village,  a  remnant  of  those  settled  on 
the  Chattahoochee,  half  a  mile  farther  pass  a  Sliawne  village,  they 
speak  the  language  and  retain  the  manners  of  their  countrymen  to 
the  N.  W.  Tliis  to\^^l  house  cUffers  from  the  Creek,  it  is  an  oblong 
square  building,  8  feet  pitch  roofed  on  the  common  mode  of  cabin 
building,  the  sides  and  roof  covered  with  bark  of  pine."  (Hawkins, 
B.,  (2),  p.  41.) 

An  interesting  question  now  arises  in  connection  with  the  "town 
house''  existing  in  this  Shawnee  village.  Among  the  Algonquian 
tribes  of  the  north,  including,  of  course,  the  Shawnee,  no  record  is 
preserved  of  any  structure  resembling  the  rotunda,  or  town  house, 
similar  to  those  which  stood  in  the  villages  of  the  Cherokee  or  other 
southern  tribes.  Ceremonial  lodges  were  erected  by  the  Algonquians, 
and  structures  of  several  forms  were  built  to  serve  as  council  houses, 
some  being  temporary  shelters,  others  of  a  more  permanent  nature, 
but  the  ''town  house ''  like  that  known  among  the  southern  tribes  w^as 
not  used.  The  ShawTiee,  who,  in  1796,  were  living  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tallapoosa,  had  been  among  the  Muskliogean  tribes  for  several 
generations  and  must  necessarily  have  adopted  some  of  their  cus- 
toms, one  being  the  erection  of  a  "town  house"  in  their  village. 
However,  it  differed  in  form  and  material  from  those  of  the  neighbor- 
mg  towns,  being  quadrilateral  instead  of  round,  and  evidently  cov- 
ered and  roofed  with  bark  without  the  usual  wattlework  protected 
by  clay.  Tliis  appears  to  have  been  an  instance  where  a  new  cus- 
tom was  adopted  by  the  Algonquian  from  the  Muskliogean,  but  the 
form  of  the  structure  remained  essentially  Algonquian. 

At  this  time,  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
greater  part  of  the  Shawnee  were  livmg  in  southern  Ohio.  But  it 
is  quite  evident  their  villages  were  already  assummg  the  appearance 
of  the  near-by  settlements  of  the  whites  across  the  Ohio  in  Kentucky. 
A  brief,  though  mteresting,  description  of  Old  Chillicothe  has  been 
preserved,  although  the  site  of  this  town  has  not  been  determmed,  as 
several  widely  separated  settlements  bore  the  name.  It  may  have 
stood  on  Paint  Creek,  m  the  present  Ross  County,  the  town  of  that 
name  destroyed  by  the  Kentuckians  m  1787.  The  account  was  pre- 
pared before  1785: 

"Old  Chelicothe  is  built  in  form  of  a  Kentucky  station,  that  is,  a 
parallelogram,  or  long  square;  and  some  of  their  houses  are  shmgled. 
A  long  Council-house  extends  the  whole  length  of  the  town,  where 
the  kmg  and  chiefs  of  the  nation  frequently  meet,  and  consult  of  all 
matters  of  importance,  w^hether  of  a  civil  or  mihtary  nature."  (Fil- 
son,  (1),  p.  98.) 


48  BURKAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

This  refers  to  a  rectangular  inclosure,  formed  partly  of  long  sheds, 
the  outer  walls  of  which  served  as  the  outside  of  the  "station." 
These  would  be  connected  by  strong  palisades,  with  one  or  two  gates. 
Old  Chdlicothe  was  of  this  form,  a  long  shed,  extending  the  length  of 
one  side  of  the  inclosure,  evidently  bemg  the  council  house.  The 
coimcil  house  may  have  been  a  separate  structure  withm  the  inclosure, 
but  this  appears  doubtful.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  more  is  not  known 
of  the  appearance  of  the  native  villages  which  stood  in  the  valley  of 
the  Ohio  long  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution. 

As  already  showai,  Algonquian  tribes  occupied  the  right,  or  west, 
bank  of  the  Hudson.  Beyond  this  narrow  strip  of  territory  lay  the 
country  of  the  Iroquois,  the  home  of  the  Five  Nations,  extending  across 
the  present  State  of  New  York.  Continuing  westward  along  the 
south  shore  of  Lake  Erie  there  had  formerly  lived  other  tribes  belong- 
ing to  the  same  linguistic  family.  This  had  evidently  been  the  home 
of  the  Iroquoian  peoples  for  many  generations.  Here  they  had  built 
many  villages^  traces  of  which  have  been  discovered  tlu"oughout  the 
country,  with  innumerable  objects  of  native  origin  scattered  over  the 
surface.  The  sites  of  many  villages  occupied  within  the  historic 
period  have  been  identified  by  name,  and  on  them,  mingled  with  im- 
plements of  stone,  are  often  found  objects  of  European  origin,  these 
being  more  numerous  on  the  later  sites.  The  long  communal  dwell- 
ings of  the  people  of  the  Five  Nations  differed  in  many  details  from 
the  habitations  of  the  neighboring  tribes.  They  were  often  100  feet 
or  more  in  length,  closely  grouped  and  protected  by  an  encircling 
palisade  of  one,  two,  or  three  rows  of  timbers.  A  general  description 
of  their  habitations  and  villages  was  prepared  soon  after  the  year 
1642,  before  intercourse  with  the  Europeans  had  wrought  any  changes 
in  their  primitive  customs.  At  that  time  it  was  said  (Van  der  Donck, 
(1),  pp.  196-198): 

'  'Their  houses  are  usually  constructed  in  the  same  maimer,  without 
any  particular  costliness  or  curiosity  in  or  to  the  same.  Sometimes 
they  build  their  hocuses  above  a  hundred  feet  long;  but  never  more 
than  twenty  feet  wide.  When  they  build  a  house  they  place  long 
slender  hickory  saplings  in  the  ground,  havmg  the  bark  stripped  off, 
in  a  straight  line  of  two  rows,  as  far  asunder  as  they  intend  the 
breadth  of  the  house  to  be,  and  continuing  the  rows  as  far  as  it  is 
intended  the  length  shall  be.  Those  saplhig  poles  are  bent  over 
towards  each  other  in  the  form  of  an  arch,  and  secured  together, 
having  the  appearance  of  a  garden  arbour.  The  sapling  poles  are 
then  crossed  with  split  poles  in  the  form  of  lathing,  which  are  well 
fastened  to  the  upright  work.  The  lathmgs  are  heaviest  near  the 
ground.  A  space  of  about  a  foot  wide  is  left  open  m  the  crown  of  the 
arch.  For  covering  they  use  the  bark  of  ash,  chestnut,  and  other 
trees,  which  they  peel  off  ui  pieces  of  about  six  feet  long,  and  as  broad 


BusiiNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE    SITES  49 

as  they  can.  Tlicy  cover  their  houses,  layuig  the  smooth  side  in- 
wards, leaving  an  o^en  space  of  about  a  foot  wide  in  the  crown,  to 
let  out  the  smoke.  They  lap  the  side  edges  and  ends  over  each  other, 
havmg  regard  to  the  slu-mkmg  of  the  hark,  securing  the  covermg  with 
withes  to  the  latlinigs.  A  crack  or  rent  they  shut  up,  and  m  this 
mamier  they  make  their  houses  proof  agamst  wmd  and  rain.  They 
have  one  door  in  the  center  of  the  house.  When  the  bark  of  the  ash 
and  chestnut  trees  is  not  loose,  they  have  recourse  to  the  timber  trees, 
wliich  grow  along  the  brooks,  the  bark  of  which  can  be  taken  off  during 
the  whole  summer  season.  Durability  is  a  primary  object  in  their 
houses.  In  short,  their  houses  are  tight  and  tolerably  warm,  but 
they  know  nothing  of  chambers,  haUs,  and  closetmgs.  They  kmdle 
and  keep  their  fires  in  the  middle  of  their  houses,  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  and  the  opening  in  the  crown  of  the  roof  lets  out  the  smoke. 
From  sixteen  to  eighteen  famihcs  frequently  dwell  m  one  house, 
according  to  its  size.  The  fire  being  kept  in  the  middle,  the  people 
lay  on  either  side  thereof,  and  each  family  has  its  ovm.  place.  .  .  . 
In  then*  villages  and  their  castles  they  always  build  strong,  firm  works, 
adapted  to  the  places.  For  the  erection  of  these  castles,  or  strong 
holds,  they  usually  select  a  situation  on  the  side  of  a  steep  high  hill, 
near  a  stream  or  river,  which  is  difficult  of  access,  except  from  the 
water,  and  inaccessible  on  every  other  side,  with  a  level  plam  on  the 
crown  of  the  hiU,  which  they  enclose  with  a  strong  stockade  work  in 
a  smgular  manner.  First  they  lay  along  on  the  ground  large  logs  of 
wood,  and  frequently  smaller  logs  upon  the  lower  logs,  which  serve 
for  the  foimdation  of  the  work.  Then  they  place  strong  oak  pafi- 
sades  in  the  ground  on  both  sides  of  the  foundation,  the  upper  ends 
of  which  cross  each  other  and  are  joined  together.  In  the  upper  cross 
of  the  palisades  they  then  place  the  bodies  of  trees,  which  makes  tlie 
work  strong  and  fii-m.  ...  In  their  castles,  they  frequently  have 
twenty  or  thirty  houses.  .  ,  .  Besides  their  strong  holds,  they  have 
villages  and  towns  which  are  enclosed.  Those  usually  have  wood- 
land on  the  one  side,  and  com  lands  on  the  other  sides.  They  also 
frequently  have  villages  near  the  water  sides,  at  fisliing  places,  where 
they  plant  some  vegetables;  but  they  leave  these  places  every  year  on 
the  approach  of  winter,  and  retire  to  their  strong  places,  or  mto  the 
thick  woods,  where  they  are  protected  from  the  wmds,  and  where  fuel  is 
plenty,  and  where  there  is  game  and  venison.  Thus  they  subsist  by 
hunting  and  fishmg  throughout  the  year.  Then-  castles  and  large 
towns  they  seldom  leave  altogether.  From  other  situations  they  re- 
move frequently,  and  they  seldom  remain  long  at  other  places.  In 
the  summer,  and  ui  the  fishuig  seasons,  many  come  to  the  water  sides 
and  rivers.  In  the  fall  and  w^inter,  when  venison  is  best,  they  rethe 
to  the  woods  and  himting  grounds.  Sometimes  towards  the  sprmg  of 
the  year,  they  come  in  multitudes  to  the  sea  shores  and  bays,  to  take 
108851°— 19 4 


50  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

oysters,  clams,  and  every  kind  of  shell-fish,  which  they  know  how  to 
dry,  and  preserve  good  a  long  time." 

The  same  writer  remarks  (p.  151): 

"Chestnuts  would  be  plentier  if  it  were  not  for  the  Indians,  who 
destroy  the  trees  by  stripping  off  the  bark  for  covering  for  their 
houses." 

This  would  tend  to  prove  the  chestnut  to  have  been  a  favorite 
one  with  the  Indians,  the  bark  evidently  being  used  extensively  as  a 
covering  for  their  habitations. 

The  preceding  description  should  probably  be  accepted  as  appli- 
cable to  the  villages  of  all  the  tribes  forming  the  league,  and  these  in 
turn  may  have  resembled  the  more  ancient  settlements  which  once 
stood  on  the  palisaded  liilltops  south  of  Lake  Erie.  The  use  of  the 
long,  extended  habitations  so  characteristic  of  these  tribes  developed 
tlu-ough  their  clan  system  and  custom.  Each  house  was  occupied 
by  the  members  of  one  family,  the  descendants  of  a  woman  through 
the  female  line.  Descent  among  the  Iroquoian  tribes  passed  tlu-ough 
the  woman,  the  cliildren  belonging  to  the  clan  or  gens  of  the  mother. 
As  requirements  made  necessary  the  house  was  extended.  Thus  in 
time  many  were  occupied  by  a  large  number  of  persons,  all,  however, 
belonging  to  the  same  clan,  descendants  through  the  female  line 
from  acknowledged  head  of  the  particular  group.      (Hewitt,  (1).) 

After  forming  the  league  the  people  of  the  several  tribes  caUed 
themselves  the  Ho  de'  no  sau  nee,  that  is  "  the  people  of  the  long  house." 
The  confederacy  was  thought  to  resemble  their  ancient  form  of 
habitation,  a  long  house,  with  different  groups,  each  with  its  own 
fire.  The  five  tribes,  whose  rich  territories  extended  from  east  of 
Lake  Erie  to  near  the  Hudson,  were  likened  to  one  great  family, 
occupying  one  long  house,  with  five  fires  ever  burning.  Later  the 
Tuscarora  became  the  sixth  member  of  the  league,  though  not 
regarded  as  holding  a  position  equal  to  that  of  the  others.  The 
Seneca  was  the  most  numerous  of  the  nations  of  the  league.  Their 
council  fire  when  first  known  to  Europeans  was  at  Tsonontowan,  near 
the  present  town  of  Naples,  Ontario  County.  They  were  the  "door- 
keepers" of  the  Long  House,  living  to  the  westward.  Theirs  was 
the  first  fire ;  that  of  the  Mohawk  who  lived  on  the  extreme  east  was 
the  fifth. 

The  villages  of  the  several  tribes  were  very  numerous.  Many 
were  strongly  fortified,  with  extensive  fields  of  corn  surrounding  and 
near  by.  Others  were  scattered,  more  open  settlements,  and  as 
already  mentioned,  a  small  group  of  persons  would  often  have  several 
sites  which  they  would  occupy  during  different  seasons  of  the  year, 
returning  to  the  protected  stronghold  for  the  winter  months.  The 
habitations  were  of  various  lengths,  from  the  unit  of  the  structure, 
with  a  single  fire  and  occupied  by  a  few  persons,  to  the  extended 
long  house  of  100  feet  or  more  in  length. 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  51 

Late  in  the  month  of  December,  1634,  Arent  Van  Curler,  from  the 
manor  of  Rensselaerwyck,  reached  the  ^lohawk  TiUage  of  Teaton- 
taloga,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mohawk  and  near  the  mouth  of 
Schoharie  Creek,  in  the  present  Montgomery  County.  Later  tliis  was 
the  site  of  the  Lower  Mohawk  Castle,  so  often  mentioned  in  history 
during  the  eighteenth  century.  Describing  the  village  as  it  stood 
in  the  winter  of  1634  he  WTote  (Van  Curler,  (1),  p.  90): 

"The  name  is  Te  notoge.  There  are  55  houses,  some  100  and  other 
ones  more  or  less  paces  long  .  .  .  This  castle  has  been  surrounded 
by  three  rows  of  palisades,  but  I  did  not  see  anytliing  peculiar  about 
them,  but  that  six  or  seven  pieces  were  so  thick  that  it  was  quite  a 
wonder  that  savages  should  be  able  to  do  that." 

Another  account  of  the  same  settlement,  though  at  that  time  it 
may  not  have  occupied  the  identical  location,  appeared  about  a 
century  later.  This  later  description  contains  some  rather  interesting 
information  respecting  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Mohawk  at 
that  time,  but  it  was  evidently  prepared  by  one  who  was  not  in 
sympathy  with  Indian  habits  (Humphreys,  (1),  pp.  297-298): 

''The  Castle  or  chief  Town  of  these  MohocJcs  is  neighbouring  to  the 
Queen's  Fort,  consisting  of  about  50  Wigwams  or  Houses.  These 
Wigwams  are  Hutts  made  of  Matts  and  Bark  of  Trees  put  together, 
with  Poles  about  tliree  or  four  Yards  high.  The  Mohocks  Cloathing 
is  a  short  Coat  like  a  Mantle,  made  of  a  Blanket  or  Bear's  Skin,  their 
Bed  is  a  Matt  or  Skin  laid  on  the  Ground.  They  paint  and  grease 
themselves  very  much  with  Bear's  Fat  clarified;  they  cut  the  Hair 
ofT  from  one  Side  of  their  Heads,  and  tye  up  some  of  that  on  the  other 
Side,  in  Kmotts,  on  the  Crown,  with  Feathers." 

This  reference  to  mat  and  bark  covered  wigwams  is  rather  more 
suggestive  of  an  Algonquian  village,  and  it  is  evident  the  Mohawk 
had,  at  this  time,  adopted  some  of  the  customs  of  the  neighboring 
Algonquian  tribes.  The  Maliican  were  living  a  few  miles  eastward 
and  on  the  south  were  the  Munsee.  Both  tribes  erected  wigwams 
covered  with  bark  and  mats. 

The  writer  continued  by  saying: 

"For  four  or  five  Months  in  the  Year,  there  is  scarce  any  stirring 
abroad,  by  Reason  of  the  extream  Coldness  of  the  Weather,  and  the 
deep  Snows  that  fall. " 

The  road  to  Albany,  44  miles  distant,  was  a  "rough  Indian  Path 
thro'  vast  woods."     This  less  than  two  centuries  ago. 

Leaving  Te  noto^6,Van  Curler  reached  the  Oneida  village  standing 
just  east  of  the  present  town  of  Munnsville,  Madison  County,  and  on 
December  30,  1634,  entered  the  palisade  through  the  gate — 

"Which  was  3  J  feet  wide,  and  at  the  top  were  standing  three  big 
wooden  images,  of  cut  wood,  like  men,  and  with  them  I  saw  tlu'ee 
scalps  fluttering  in  the  wind,  that  they  had  taken  from  their  foes  as  a 


62 


DUEEAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


[bull.  69 


token  of  the  truth  of  their  victory.  This  castle  has  two  gates,  one  on 
the  east  side  and  one  on  the  west  side.  On  the  east  side  a  lock  of 
hair  was  also  hanging;  but  tliis  gate  was  1 J  feet  smaller  than  the  other 
one.  ...  This  castle  is  situated  on  a  very  high  hill,  and  was  sur- 
rounded with  two  rows  of  palisades.  It  was  767  paces  in  circum- 
ference. There  are  66  houses,  but  much  better,  higher,  and  more 
finished  than  all  the  others  we  saw.  A  good  many  houses  had  wooden 
fronts  that  are  painted  with  all  sorts  of  beasts.  There  they  sleep 
mostly  on  elevated  boards,  more  than  any  other  savages." 

Seldom  were  the  outsides  of  dwelhngs  of  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi 
decorated  in  any  manner,  consequently  this  reference  is  of  special 
interest.  However,  the  lack  of  decoration  should  probably  be 
attributed  to  the  nature  of  the  structures  rather  than  to  any  other 
cause,  as  the  mat-covered  habitations  of  the  Algonquian  tribes  did 
not  present  a  good  surface  for  painting.     But  among  the  southern 

people  houses  were  sometimes  deco- 
rated. This  will  be  described  later. 
Westward  beyond  the  Oneida  lay 
the  Onondaga,  at  whose  chief  town, 
Onondaga,  burned  the  Great  Council 
Fire  of  the  League  of  the  Iroquois. 
This  most  important  village  was 
removed  from  place  to  place,  but 
always  remained  within  a  rather 
small  radius,  and  many  of  the 
which  have  been  discovered  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  present  Onondaga  County  may  at  some  time  have  been 
occupied  by  this  town,  which  should  be  termed  the  capital  of  the 
league. 

On  July  21,  1743,  when  Bartram  and  his  party  arrived  at  Onondaga 
they  stopped  before  the  council  house  where  they  were  received  by 
the  chiefs  who  had  gathered  to  greet  them.  They  were  conducted  to 
the  apartments  at  both  ends  of  the  long  house  (fig.  2).  These  they 
were  to  occupy  during  their  stay.  Their  Indian  attendants  were 
given  adjoining  apartments.  Fortunately  an  mteresting  description 
of  the  structure,  together  with  a  plan  (fig.  3),  was  preserved  in  the 
narrative  of  the  journey  (Bartram,  J.,  (1),  pp.  40-41): 

''This  cabm  is  about  80  feet  long,  and  17  broad,  the  common 
passage  6  feet  wide;  and  the  apartments  on  each  side  5  feet,  raised  a 
foot  above  the  passage  by  a  long  saplmg  hewed  square,  and  fitted 
with  joists  thatgo  fromit  to  the  back  of  the  house;  on  these  joists  they 
lay  large  pieces  of  bark,  and  on  extraordinary  occasions  spread  matts 
made  of  rushes,  this  favour  we  had ;  on  these  floors  they  set  or  lye  down 
every  one  as  he  wiU,  the  apartments  are  divided  from  each  other  by 
boards  or  bark,  6  or  7  feet  long,  from  the  lower  floor  to  the  upper,  on 


Fig.  2.— Bark  house.  Method  of  construction 
of  the  Iroquois  long  house.  (From  Handbook 
of  A  merican  Indians . ) 


various    sites 


BUSHNELL] 


NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES 


53 


which  they  put  their  lomber,  when  they  have  eaten  their  homony, 

as  they  set  m  each  apartment  l)cfore  the  fire,  they  can  put  the  bowl 

over  head,  having  not   above   5   foot    to 

reach;  they  set  on  the  floor  sometimes  at 

each  end,  but  mostly  at  one:  they  have  a 

shed  to  put  their  wood  into  in  the  winter, 

or  ill  the  summer  to   set   to   converse   or 

play,  that  has  a  door  to  the  south;  all  the 

side  and  roof  of  tli§  cabin  is  made  of  bark, 

bound  fast  to  poles  set  in  the  ground,  and 

bent  round  on  the  top,  or  set  aflatt,  for  the 

roof  as  we  set  our  rafters;  over  each  fire 

place  they  leave   a  hole  to  let   out   the 

smoak,  which  in  ramy  weather  they  cover 

with  a  piece  of  bark." 

Wliile  the  preceding  was  probably  a 
typical  long  habitation  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  was  accurately  described,  nevertheless 
it  is  quite  evident  other  similar  structures 
differed  in  certain  details,  and  that  all  were 
not  exactly  alike  in  interior  arrangement. 
Some  appear  to  have  had  small  closet-like 
compartments  for  storage  purposes  placed 
between  the  larger  divisions  which  served 
for  sleeping  and  living  apartments.  Such 
variations  probably  occurred  at  different 
tim:es  and  among  the  several  tribes. 

It  is  c^uite  remarkable  that  a  people  pos- 
sessing such  a  complex  form  of  government 
did  not,  until  after  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  erect  a  structure  which 
was  retained  solely  as  a  council  house,  or 
gathering  place,  as  was  the  custom  among 
the  southern  tribes.  Before  that  time  the 
house  of  the  Fire  Keeper  of  tlie  nation  was 
in  reality  the  capitol,  where  tribal  ques- 
tions were  discussed  and  where  ambassa- 
dors from  other  tribes  were  received. 

The  people  of  the  Five  Nations  had 
extensive  fields  and  gardens,  surround- 
ing or  near  their  villages,  and  raised  vast 
quantities  of  corn  and  vegetables.  Much 
corn  would  be  deposited  in  pits,  excavated  and  lined  with  bark  for 
the  purpose,  and  these  after  being  filled  with  grain  would  be  covered 
with  other  sheets  of  bark  with  a  mass  of  earth  above.     Such  caches, 


Fig.  3.— rian  of  Onondaga  longhouse, 
1743.    (FromBartram.) 


54  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

often  filled  with  carbonized  grain,  have  been  found  on  many  long- 
deserted  village  sites.  Other  similar  pits  served  as  places  for  the 
storage  of  various  possessions  of  the  people,  such  as  skins,  cured  meats, 
and  different  vegetables.  It  will  be  recalled  that ' '  a  Cave  or  Vault," 
filled  with  corn,  was  discovered  by  the  French  in  1679  beneath  the 
floor  of  every  wigwam  at  the  great  village  of  the  Illinois,  but  among  the 
Iroquois  it  was  the  custom  to  prepare  the  caches  outside  the  dwellings. 

When  away  from  their  villages  the  Iroquois  erected  a  small  tem- 
porary shelter  of  rather  unusual  form:  "It  was  triangular  at  the 
base,  the  frame  consisting  of  three  poles  on  a  side,  gathered  at  the 
top,  but  with  space  sufficient  between  them  for  a  chimney  opening." 
This  frame  was  covered  with  sheets  of  bark  after  the  fashion  of 
the  larger  structures.  (Morgan,  (2),  I,  p.  310.)  But  even  a 
simpler  form  of  shelter  was  known  to  the  people  of  the  region,  as 
described  by  one  who  enjoyed  its  protection.  On  the  night  of  July 
11,  1743,  while  on  his  journey  to  Onondaga,  Bartram  and  his  party 
encamped  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Indian  settlement  of  Shamokin,  near 
the  forks  of  the  Susquehanna,  when  "about  break  of  day  it  began  to 
rain  and  the  Indians  made  us  a  covering  of  bark  got  after  this 
manner:  They  cut  the  tree  romid  through  the  bark  near  the  root, 
and  make  the  like  incision  above  7  feet  above  it,  there  horizontal 
ones  are  joined  by  a  perpendicular  cut,  on  each  side  of  which  they 
after  loosen  the  bark  from  the  wood,  and  hewing  a  pole  at  the  small 
end  gradually  tapering  like  a  wedge  about  2  feet,  they  force  it  in.  till 
they  have  compleated  the  separation  all  romid,  and  the  bark  parts 
whole  from  the  tree,  one  of  which,  a  foot  diameter,  yields  a  piece  7  feet 
long  and  above  3  wide :  And  having  now  prepared  four  forked  sticks, 
they  are  set  into  the  ground  the  longer  in  front;  on  these  they  lay 
the  cross-poles,  and  on  them  the  bark.  This  makes  a  good  tight 
shelter   in   warm  weather."      (Bartram,  J.,  (1),  pp.  20-21.) 

Temporary  shelters  of  some  simple  form  must  necessarily  have  been 
made  by  all  tribes,  but  seldom  were  they  seen  or  described  by  those 
who  have  left  accounts  of  their  journeys  through  the  Indian  comitry 
of  a  century  and  more  ago.  The  shelter  mentioned  by  Bartram  may 
have  been  of  the  form  used  tliroughout  the  eastern  area. 

The  site  of  the  palisaded  Onondaga  town  which  was  attacked  by 
the  French  led  by  Champlain  in  the  year  1615  was  identified  some 
years  ago.  It  stood  in  the  town  of  Fenner,  3  miles  east  of  Perryville 
in  the  present  Madison  County,  at  the  outlet  of  Nichols  pond. 
As  described  by  Champlain  it  was  surrounded  by  a  quadruple 
palisade,  very  strongly  built,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  drawing. 
(Champlain,  (1),  p.  444.)  Tliis,  one  of  the  earliest  illustrations  of 
an  Iroquoian  settlement,  is  reproduced  in  plate  8,  h.  This  location 
was  within  the  lands  of  the  Oneida,  east  of  the  Onondaga,  although 
it  was  evidently  a  settlement  of  the  latter  tribe,  one  of  their  prmcipal 


bushnell]  native   villages   AND  VILLAGE   SITES  55 

villages.  But  a  much  earlier  description  of  an  Iroquoian  town  has 
been  preserved,  and  although  not  within  the  limits  of  the  United 
States  it  should  now  be  mentioned.  Hochelaga,  the  Huron  settle- 
ment which  stood  on  the  site  of  Montreal,  was  visited  by  Jacques 
Cartier  during  his  second  expedition  in  the  year  1535.  A  very  crude 
and  inaccurate  drawing  of  the  palisaded  village  was  given  on  pages 
446-447  of  the  third  volume  of  Ramusio,  printed  in  Venice  in  1556. 
The  description  was  translated  and  used  by  Hakluyt  (Cartier,  (1), 
p.  220),  but  the  illustration  was  omitted.  After  referring  to  the  fields 
of  corn  the  account  continues: 

*'In  the  midst  of  those  fields  is  the  citie  of  Hochelaga,  placed  neere, 
and  as  it  were  joyned  to  a  great  mountaine  that  is  tilled  round  about, 
very  fertill,  on  the  top  of  which  you  may  see  very  farre,  we  named  it 
Mount  Roiall.  The  citie  of  Hochelaga  is  round,  compassed  about  with 
timber,  with  three  course  of  Rampaires,  one  within  another  framed 
hke  a  sharpe  Spire,  but  laide  acrosse  above.  The  middlemost  of  them 
is  made  and  built  as  a  direct  line,  but  perpendicular.  The  Rampiers 
are  framed  and  fashioned  with  peeces  of  timber,  layd  along  the 
gromid,  very  well  and  cmmmgly  joyned  togither  after  their  fashion. 
This  enclosure  is  m  height  al^out  two  rods.  It  hath  but  one  gate  or 
entrie  thereat,  which  is  but  with  piles,  stakes,  and  barres.  Over  it, 
and  also  in  many  places  m  the  wall,  there  be  places  to  runne  along, 
and  ladders  to  get  up,  all  full  of  stones,  for  the  defence  of  it.  There 
are  in  the  towne  about  fiftie  houses,  about  fiftie  paces  long,  and 
twelve  or  fifteens  broad,  built  all  of  wood,  covered  over  with  the 
barke  of  the  wood  as  broad  as  any  boord,  very  finely  and  cmminly 
joyned  togither.  Within  the  said  houses,  there  are  many  roomes, 
lodgmgs  and  chambers.  In  the  middest  of  every  one  there  is  a  great 
Court,  in  the  middle  whereof  they  make  their  fire.  They  live  in 
common  togither:  then  do  the  husbands,  wives  and  children  each 
one  retire  themselves  to  their  chambers." 

Such  was  an  Iroquoian  village  nearly  four  centuries  ago,  when  first 
visited  by  Europeans,  and  the  description  is  quite  similar  to  that  of 
the  Mohawk  Castle  just  one  century  later.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
little  or  no  change  had  taken  place  in  the  manners  of  the  people 
during  the  century.  They  lived  as  they  had  for  generations,  and  so 
continued  until  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  Another  view  of 
Hochelaga  appears  on  the  Lescarbot  map  of  1609,  and  is  now  repro- 
duced as  plate  8,  a.  Five  houses  are  shown  surrounded  by  a  palisade, 
with  one  gate  facing  the  south. 

As  already  mentioned,  innumerable  village  sites  have  been  dis- 
covered tliroughout  the  comitry  of  the  Five  Nations,  many  of  which 
have  been  identified  as  having  been  occupied  during  the  early  days 
of  the  colony.  In  many  instances  traces  of  the  palisades,  or  remains 
of  the  embankments  by  which  the  settlements  were  surrounded  and 


56  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

protected,  have  been  encountered.  Similar  sites  have  been  en- 
countered in  the  territory  westward  from  that  of  the  Five  Nations, 
south  of  Lake  Erie.  These  were  probably  the  towns  of  the  ancient 
Eries,  the  Cat  Nation  of  the  French,  who  disappeared  from  history 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  There  may  have  been 
little  or  no  difference  in  the  appearance  of  the  towns  of  the  Huron, 
the  Erie,  and  the  Five  Nations.  Some  were  strongly  palisaded; 
others  were  open,  with  the  habitations  more  scattered. 

Extending  southward  from  the  land  of  the  Five  Nations,  following 
the  valley  of  tbe  Susquehanna  tc  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  lived 
other  Iroquoian  tribes,  the  best  known  being  those  whose  name  is 
now  applied  to  the  river  along  which  their  villages  once  stood.  Here 
they  were  met  by  Capt.  John  Smith  and  his  party  of  Virginia  colo- 
nists during  the  summer  of  1608.  The  English  were  awed  when  they 
encountered  these  people.  '  'Such  great  and  well  proportioned  men, 
are  seldome  seene,  for  they  seemed  like  Giants  to  the  English,  yea 
and  to  the  neighbours :  yet  seemed  of  an  honest  and  smiple  dispo- 
sition, [and  they  were]  with  much  adoe  restrained  from  adoring  the 
discoverers  as  Gods."  Their  principal  towns  were  some  miles  above 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  were  gix^in  number,  and  some,  if  not  all,  were 
protected  by  palisades.  The  houses  were  covered  with  mats  or 
bark,  and  probably  very  often  both  mats  and  bark  served  to  cover  one 
structure.  An  engraving,  entitled  '  'The  IndianFort Sasquesahanok," 
appeared  on  the  Moll  map  of  1720.  This,  however,  was  obviously 
copied  from  the  dra^ving  of  Pomeioc  made  by  Wliite  in  1585.  In 
printing  the  plate  the  view  was  reversed,  but  the  relative  arrange- 
ment remained  the  same.  The  curious  landscape  was  evidently 
prepared  to  add  to  the  deception;  nevertheless  the  general  appearance 
of  the  village  may  not  have  differed  greatly  from  the  picture,  which 
was  probably  typical  of  the  whole  region.  This  is  reproduced  in 
plate  9,  a.  On  the  Herrman  map  of  1673  a  cluster  of  eight  houses, 
surrounded  by  a  palisade,  bears  the  legend  "The  present  Sassqua- 
hanna  Indian  fort,"  and  is  placed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  stream 
just  above  the  Conewago  Falls,  in  the  present  York  Comity,  Penn- 
sylvania. The  latter  was  probably  one  of  the  ancient  sites  earlier 
indicated  on  Smith's  map  as  being  the  position  of  a  "King's  howse." 
On  the  same  map  Smith  shows  the  town  of  Utchoivig  on  what  appears 
to  have  been  the  West  Branch  of  the  Susquehamia.  This,  according 
to  the  belief  of  Hewitt,  was  probably  near  the  present  city  of  Lock- 
haven,  Clinton  County.  Just  below  Lockhaven,  in  the  West 
Branch,  is  Great  Island,  known  to  have  been  the  site  of  ancient 
Indian  settlements,  and  which  may  have  been,  and  probably  was,  at 
one  time  occupied  by  the  Susquehamia  village  of  Vtchomig.  The 
Susquehanna  were  driven  southward  by  the  Iroquois,  or  Five 
Nations,  about  the  year  1675,  and  later  the  valley  of  the  stream  was 


BisHXELi,]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  57 

occupied  by  the  Delaware  and  other  Algonqiiian  remnants  who  were 
forced  westward  by  the  encroachment  of  European  settlements  on 
the  Atlantic  coast.  In  the  year  1768  Great  Island  was  partly  occu- 
pied by  the  important  Delaware  village  where  Newoleeka,  or  Newah- 
leeka,  was  chief.  It  was  often  mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  period. 
(Colonial  Records  of  Pa.,  (1),  p.  428  et  seq.)  Many  implements  and 
objects  of  native  origin  have  been  discovered  in  the  region  which,  in 
the  days  before  the  coming  of  the  colonists,  was  probably  a  favorite 
locality  of  the  Indian,  one  where  game  and  fish  were  plentiful  and 
easily  obtained.  A  view  of  the  upper  end  of  Great  Island,  taken  from 
the  high  cliff  bordering  the  river,  is  shown  in  plate  9,  h.  Tliis  was  the 
site  of  the  ancient  village. 

In  southern  Virginia  the  Nottoway  and  Meherrin  were  connected, 
linguistically,  with  the  tribes  just  mentioned,  being  Iroquoian,  as 
were  the  neighboring  Tuscarora  and  possibly  the  Coree,  likewise  the 
powerful  Cherokee,  whose  many  villages  were  scattered  through  tlie 
valleys  of  the  southern  mountains.  A  very  interesting  description 
of  the  protected  town  of  the  Nottoway  which  stood  in  Southampton 
County,  Virginia,  is  preserved,  and  it  is  evident  the  place  had  main- 
tained its  primitive  appearance,  unchanged,  since  the  settlement  of 
the  colony.  The  Nottoway  continued  their  tribal  organization  as 
late  as  1825,  though  greatly  reduced  in  numbers.  The  town  was 
visited  by  Col.  William  Byrd  on  April  7,  1728,  and  was  described 
thus: 

''This  fort  was  a  square  piece  of  ground,  inclosed  with  substantial 
puncheons,  or  strong  palisades,  about  ten  feet  high,  and  leaning  a 
little  outwards,  to  make  scalade  more  difficult.  Each  side  of  the 
square  might  be  about  a  hundred  yards  long,  with  loop-holes  at 
proper  distances,  through  which  they  may  fire  upon  the  enemy. 
Within  this  inclosure  we  found  bark  cabins  sufficient  to  lodge  all 
their  people,  in  case  they  should  be  obliged  to  retire  thither.  These 
cabins  are  no  other  but  close  arbours  made  of  saplings,  arched  at  the 
top,  and  covered  so  well  with  bark  as  to  be  proof  against  all  weather. 
The  fire  is  made  in  the  middle,  according  to  the  Hibernian  fashion, 
the  smoke  whereof  finds  no  other  vent  but  at  the  door.  .  .  The 
Indians  have  no  standing  furniture  in  their  cabins  but  hurdles  to 
repose  their  persons  upon,  which  they  co\er  \vii\\  mats  and  deer- 
skins."    (Byrd,  (1),  pp.  34-35.) 

This  conformed  with  the  custom  of  the  northern  Iroquois  tribes 
where  the  strongly  palisaded  central  village  served  as  a  place  of 
refuge  for  the  people  of  the  outlying  districts  in  times  of  danger. 
Not  far  distant  from  the  town  of  the  Nottoway  stood,  a  few  years 
before,  the  village  of  Paski,  where  during  the  month  of  October,  1711, 
De  Graff enried  halted  when  on  his  way  to  Virginia: 


58  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  tBDLu6d 

,  "That  village  was  fortified  with  palisades  and  the  houses  or 
cabins  were  neatly  made  out  of  tree  bark,  they  stood  in  a  circle, 
and  in  midst  of  them  was  a  beautiful  round  place,  in  its  center  a 
big  fire,  and  around  it  the  Council  setting  on  the  ground,  that  is  the 
leaders  of  the  Tuscoruros'  nation."     (De  Graffenried,  (1),  p.  937.) 

This  reference,  though  brief,  is  of  gi'eat  interest,  as  it  proves  that 
within  a  short  distance  of  one  another  stood  both  round  and  quad- 
rangular inclosures,  built  by  people  of  the  same  stock,  though  not 
of  the  same  tribe.  And  it  is  remarkable  how  closely  the  description 
of  the  village  of  Paski  conforms  with  the  picture  of  Pomeioc;  a 
circular  palisade  surrounding  a  number  of  bark-covered  houses 
placed  in  a  circle,  a  great  fire  iii  the  middle  of  the  open  space,  with 
a  group  of  Indians  gathered  around. 

During  the  war  with  the  colonists  the  Tuscarora  and  their  allies 
erected  palisaded  strongholds.  In  January,  1712,  such  a  fort  was 
built  on  the  bank  of  the  K"euse  some  20  miles  west  of  Newbern. 
This  was  taken  by  the  whites  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month.  The 
site  is  well  known,  and  numerous  arrow  points  and  other  objects  of 
stone  found  there  are  thought  by  some  to  have  been  used  and  lost 
at  the  time  of  the  encounter,  although  the  Indians  unquestionably 
had  an  ample  supply  of  firearms. 

The  mat  and  bark  covered  habitations  of  the  eastern  tribes,  in 
addition  to  the  characteristic  structures  of  the  Iroquois,  or  Five 
Nations,  were  of  two  general  tyj^es,  the  circular,  dome-shaped  wig- 
wam, and  the  more  quadrangular  form  with  the  arched  roof.  The 
latter  was  used  tliroughout  tidewater  Virginia,  and  was  clearly 
described  by  the  early  writers.  It  was  likewise  shown  in  White's 
drawings  made  of  the  villages  standing  in  the  northeastern  corner  of 
North  Carolina  in  the  summer  of  1585.  These  were  not  far  from  the 
country  of  the  Tuscarora,  who,  however,  appear  to  have  erected 
both  ty])es  of  dwellings.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  year  1701, 
Lawson  "met  with  500  Tuskereros  in  one  Hunting  Quarter.  They 
had  made  themselves  streets  of  houses  built  with  Pine  Bark,  not  with 
round  tops  as  they  commonly  use,  but  Ridge  Fashion,  after  the 
manner  of  most  other  Indians."  (Lawson,  (1),  p.  32.)  "Ridge 
Fasliion,"  in  this  Cjuotation,  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  Virginia 
form  of  structure,  the  long  arched  roof  described  by  the  historians 
as  resembling  arbors  in  the  English  gardens.  The  dome-shaped 
habitations  of  the  Carolina  Indians — and  the  account  refers  more 
particuliarly  to  the  Tuscarora  and  Coree — ^were  described  by  Lawson 
(p.  105).  They  were  usually  covered  with  cypress  bark,  but  when 
this  was  not  to  be  had  cedar  or  pine  was  used,  the  latter  being  con- 
sidered the  poorest.  Many  long  saplings  were  cut,  "at  the  tliickest 
end  of  which  they  generally  strip  off  the  bark,  and  warm  them  well 
in  the  fire,  which  makes  them  tough  and  fit  to  bend;  afterw^ards 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES  AND  VILLAGE   SITES  59 

they  stick  the  thickest  ends  of  them  in  the  gi-ound,  above  two  yards 
asunder,  in  a  circuhir  form,  the  distance  they  design  the  Cabin  to  be 
(which  is  not  always  round  but  sometimes  oval) ;  then  they  bend  the 
tops  and  bring  them  together  and  bind  their  ends  with  bark  of  trees, 
that  is  proper  for  that  use,  as  Elm  is,  or  sometimes  the  Moss  that 
grow  on  the  Trees  .  .  .  They  have  other  sorts  of  Cabins  without 
Windows,  wliich  are  for  the  Granaries,  Skins,  and  Merchandizes; 
and  others  that  are  covered  overhead  and  the  rest  left  open  for  air. 
These  have  reed  Hurdles  like  Tables,  to  lie  and  sit  on  in  summer, 
and  serve  for  pleasant  Banc^ueting  Houses  in  the  Hot  Season  of  the 
Year.  The  Cabins  they  dwell  in  have  Benches  aU  around,  except 
where  the  door  stands.  On  these  they  lay  Beasts-Skins  and  Mats 
made  of  Rushes,  whereon  they  sleej)  and  loll.  In  one  of  these  several 
Families  commonly  live,  though  all  related  to  one  another." 

Considering  the  size  and  importance  of  the  Cherokee  it  is  surpris- 
ing how  little  is  known  regarding  the  appearance  of  their  dwellings 
and  other  structm-es.  But  their  villages  were  not  compactly  built, 
as  among  other  tribes.  The  houses  were  widely  scattered  and  were 
often  far  removed  from  the  center  of  the  community,  or  village, 
which  was  indicated  by  the  town  house.  Unlike  the  Creeks,  so 
Bartram  WTote  in  1789 — 

"They  have  neither  the  Square  nor  the  ChunJcy-Yard.  Their 
Simimer  Council  House  is  a  spacious  open  loft  or  pavilion,  on  the 
top  of  a  very  large  oblong  building;  and  the  Rotunda,  or  great  Hot 
or  Town  House,  is  the  Council  House  in  Cold  seasons.  Their  private 
houses  or  habitations  consist  of  one  large  oblong-square  log  build- 
ing, divided  transversely  into  several  apartmants;  and  a  round  hot- 
house stands  a  little  distance  off,  for  a  winter  lodging-house." 
(Bartram,  W.,  (1),  pp.  56-57.) 

A  few  years  earlier  it  was  said:  "They  build  theu-  houses  with 
wood  and  ciel  them  with  clay  mixed  with  straw,  so  as  to  render  them 
tight  and  comfortable.  They  have  many  small  towns  dispersed 
among  the  mountains."  (Rogers,  (1),  p.  202.)  The  Cherokee 
and  Creeks  not  only  differed  in  the  arrangement  of  the  buildings 
but  in  the  manner  of  their  construction.  The  rectangular  habitation 
of  the  Cherokee  was  one  story  in  height,  formed  of  logs  "stripped  of 
their  bark,  notched  at  their  ends,  fixed  one  upon  another,  and  after- 
wards plaistered  well,  both  inside  and  out,  with  clay  well  tempered 
with  dry  grass,  and  the  whole  covered  or  roofed  with  the  bark  of  the 
chestnut  tree  or  long  broad  shingles."  (Bartram,  W.,  (2),  p.  365.) 
This  was  partitioned  transversely  and  formed  into  thi-ee  apartments, 
connected  by  doors.  A  few  yards  away  from  the  house,  opposite 
the  main  entrance,  stood  a  small,  conical,  earth-covered  lodge, 
known  as  the  winter  hothouse. 


60  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN-   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

The  Cherokee  town  of  Cowe  (Kawi'yi,  Mooney)  stood  on  the  banks 
of  the  Little  Tennessee,  about  the  mouth  of  Cowee  Creek,  in  the 
present  Macon  County,  North  Carolma,  among  the  beautiful  hills 
and  valleys  of  the  southern  Alleghenies  (pi.  10,  a).  When  visited 
by  Bartram  in  the  spring  of  1776,  the  town  consisted  of  about 
100  dwellings,  and  here  was  a  town  house  large  enough  to  allow 
several  hundred  persons  to  gather  within.  This  occupied  the  summit 
of  an  artificial  mound  some  20  feet  in  height.  The  building  rose 
30  feet  higher,  making  the  peak  of  the  roof  50  feet  above  the  sur- 
rounding area.  Bartram's  description  of  this  structure  is  of  much 
interest  (op.  cit.,  pp.  366-367) : 

"They  firsL  fix  in  the  ground  a  circular  range  of  posts  or  trunks  of 
trees,  about  six  feet  high,  at  equal  distances,  which  are  notched  at 
top,  to  receive  into  them  from  one  to  another,  a  range  of  beams  or 
wall  plates;  within  this  is  another  circular  order  of  very  large  and 
strong  pillars,  above  twelve  feet  high,  notched  m  like  manner  at 
top,  to  receive  another  range  of  wall  plates;  and  within  this  is  yet 
another  or  third  range  of  stronger  and  higher  pUlars,  but  few  in 
number,  standing  at  a  greater  distance  from  each  other;  and  lastly, 
iu  the  centre  stands  a  very  strong  pillar,  which  forms  the  pirmacle 
of  the  building,  and  to  which  the  rafters  are  strengthened  and  bound 
together  by  cross  beams  and  laths,  which  sustain  the  roof  or  covering, 
which  is  a  layer  of  bark  neatly  placed,  and  tight  enough  to  exclude 
the  rain,  and  sometimes  they  cast  a  thin  superficies  of  earth  over  all. 
There  is  but  one  large  door,  which  serves  at  the  same  time  to  admit 
light  from  without  and  the  smoke  to  escape  when  a  fire  is  kindled; 
but  as  there  is  but  a  small  fire  kept,  sufficient  to  give  light  at  night, 
and  that  fed  with  dry  small  sound  wood  divested  of  its  bark,  there 
is  but  little  smoke.  All  aromid  the  inside  of  the  buildmg,  betwixt 
the  second  range  of  pillars  and  the  wall,  is  a  range  of  cabms  or  sophas, 
consisting  of  two  or  tliree  steps,  one  above  or  behind  the  other,  in 
theatrical  order,  where  the  assembly  sit  or  lean  do%\Ti ;  these  sophas 
are  covered  with  mats  or  carpets,  very  cuj'iously  made  of  thin  splints 
of  Ash  or  Oak,  woven  or  platted  together;  near  the  great  pillar  in 
the  centre  the  fire  is  kmdled  for  light,  near  which  the  musicians  seat 
themselves,  and  round  about  this  the  performers  exhibit  their  dances 
and  other  shows  at  public  festivals,  which  happen  almost  every  night 
tln-oughout  the  year." 

The  night  of  Bartram's  visit  the  people  had  gathered  in  the  town 
house  at  Cowe  to  "rehearse  the  ball-play  dance."  The  town  was  to 
play  against  another  on  the  next  day. 

The  tovnx  house  at  Tellico,  a  Cherokee  village  m  the  present  Mon- 
roe County,  Tenn.,  stood  on  the  summit  of  a  mound  12  feet  in  height, 
which  Was  in  the  midst  of  the  old  fields,  near  a  bend  of  the  Little 
Tennessee,  not  far  from  Cowe.     The  houses  were  falling  apart,  and 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE    SITES  61 

the  whole  had  the  appearamce  of  desolation.  (Hawkins,  B.,  (2),  p. 
112.)  The  structure  at  Tellico  was  probably  similar  to  that  at  Cowe 
and  Chote.  All  town  houses  of  the  Cherokee  were  probably  much 
alike,  difTering  only  in  size  and  minor  details. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1761  Lieut.  Timberlake,  of  the 
British  forces,  while  on  a  mission  to  the  Cherokee,  reached  the  im- 
portant to^\ni  of  Chote,  in  the  present  county  of  Monroe,  Tennessee, 
opposite  the  ruins  of  Fort  Loudon.  Here  in  the  tovm.  house  of 
Chote,  "the  metropolis  of  the  country,"  gathered  the  headmen  of 
the  neighbormg  to^^^ls  "to  hear  the  articles  of  peace  read."  This 
mrst  have  been  one  of  the  most  important  and  largest  buildings 
ever  erected  by  the  Cherokee,  but  in  form  it  did  not  differ  from  that 
at  Cowe,  as  the  description  will  prove: 

"The  town-house,  in  which  are  transacted  all  public  business  and 
diversions,  is  raised  with  wood,  and  covered  over  with  earth,  and 
has  all  the  appearance  of  a  small  mountain  at  a  little  distance.  It 
is  built  in  the  form  of  a  sugar  loaf,  and  large  enough  to  contain  500 
persons,  but  extremely  dark,  having,  besides  the  door,  which  is  so 
narrow  that  but  one  at  a  time  can  pass,  and  that  after  much  wuiding 
and  turning,  but  one  small  aperture  to  let  the  smoke  out,  which  is 
so  ill  contrived,  that  most  of  it  settles  m  the  roof  of  the  house. 
Within  it  has  the  appearance  of  an  ancient  amphitheatre,  the  seats 
bemg  raised  one  above  another,  leaving  an  area  in  the  middle,  in 
the  center  of  which  stands  the  fire;  the  seats  of  the  head  warriors 
are  nearest  it."      (Timberlake,  (1),  p.  32.) 

And  Chote  continued  to  be  the  "metropolis"  of  the  nation  for 
many  years.  Here  the  chief  men  would  gather  and  deliberate,  and 
here  the  representatives  of  the  colonies,  and  later  of  the  States, 
would  come  to  meet  the  Cherokee  in  council.  Letters  now  preserved 
in  the  Department  of  Archives,  Virginia  State  Library,  Richmond, 
shed  much  light  on  tl^e  Cherokee  during  the  latter  part  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  One  of  these  letters,  being  of  great  historical 
interest,  reads: 

Chotee  19tli  Sepr  1785- 

SlR 

Agreeable  to  your  Excellencys  Instructions  I  have  been  Very  Attentive  to  the 
Indians  Since  July  Last  at  •which  time  I  returned  from  Charlestown,  at  my  arrival  one 
of  the  principal  [men]  moved  off  and  Several  Families  out  of  the  different  To\vns.  I 
neA'er  see  them  in  such  Confusion  before.  I  have  had  Several  Meetings  ^vith  them 
in  wliich  time  my  old  friend  Oconstota  who  never  forsook  my  Council  died,  their 
Confusion  arose  from  the  delay  of  the  Treaty  and  the  rapid  Encroachments  on  their 
Lands.  Several  houses  are  Built  within  a  Mile  of  their  To^vns.  Together  with  the 
Talks  from  the  differt  Tribes  of  Indians  some  of  wliich  are  now  among  them  and 
More  Expected  Shortly.  Their  Council  broke  up  yesterday  which  has  been  Sitting 
Six  days,  the  old  Tassel  imforms  [me]  that  the  Wyandots  Chief  who  is  with  them  tells 
him  that  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians  are  at  peace  with  Yirg"  but  all  the  other  Tril^es 
are  at  War,  that  the  Shanees  have  been  tlirough  the  Different  Tribes  for  their  assist- 
ance who  have  promised  to  give  it  this  fall  and  march  a  Large  army  against  Kentuckey, 


62  BUREAU   OF   AMEEICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bdll.69 

also  the  different  parts  of  the  frontiers  of  Virg«  that  the  Shanees  are  to  Lie  Still  till  the 
Western  Indians  arrive  at  which  time  the[y]  are  to  send  Runners  to  the  Cherokee 3 
Chocta-ws,  Chickisaws  &  Creeks,  -with  the  war  Hatchett,  but  he  says  he  will  not  accept 
of  it.     they  appear  much  Better  Reconciled  then  they  were  some  time  past. — 

I  Divided  What  public  goods  was  on  hand  among  them  &  the  Chickisaws  who  I  sent 
for  to  these  Towns  &  which  had  a  wonderful  Effect,  tho  after  all  my  Exertions  I  fear 
the  Chickamoggas  will  accept  the  war  Hatchett. — I  expect  to  set  out  for  that  quarter 
tomorrow  and  I  beg  leave  to  assure  your  Excellancy  that  nothing  shall  be  Lacking  on 
my  part  to  keep  them  in  good  humour  till  the  General  Treaty  which  comes  on  with  the 
Creeks  the  24th  of  Next  Month  &  with  the  Cherokees,  Chickisaws  &  Chocktaws  the 
15th  Nov^  after  Every  thing  is  Settled  with  them  I  shall  Hurry  down  to  Richmond 
in  order  to  Settle  all  my  public  accts. ' ' 

The  letter  continues  and  refers  to  certain  persons  living  among 
the  Indians,  and  then  closes.  It  was  written  by  Joseph  Martin 
and  was  addressed  to  "His  Excellency  Patrick  Henry  Esq*"  Governor 
of  the  State  of  Virginia." 

Forwarded  with  the  precedmg  letter  was  a  document,  part  of  which 

is  now  quoted: 

Chotee  19th  Septr  1785 
Brother — 

I  am  now  going  to  Speak  to  you  I  hope  you  will  hear  me.  I  am  an  old  man 
and  almost  thrown  away  by  my  Elder  Brother — the  ground  I  Stand  on  is  very  Slip- 
pery— tho  I  Still  hope  my  Elder  Brother  will  hear  me  and  take  pity  on  me.  As  we 
were  all  made  by  the  Same  great  Being  above  we  are  the  Children  of  the  same 
parent — I  therefore  hope  my  Brother  will  hear  me. 

It  then  describes  the  encroachments  of  the  whites  on  lands  always 
acknowledged  as  belonging  to  the  Cherokee,  claimed  and-  occupied 
by  them,  and  refers  to  the  coming  treaty,  then  continues: 

I  once  more  Beg  that  our  Elder  Brother  will  Take  pity  on  us  and  not  take  our 
ground  from  us  because  he  is  Stronger  than  we — the  great  Being  above  that  made  us 
all  placed  us  on  this  Land  and  gave  it  to  us  and  it  is  ours — our  Elder  Brother  in  all 
the  Treaties  we  ever  had  gave  it  to  us  also  and  we  hope  he  will  not  think  of  taking 
it  from  us  now. 

I  have  Sent  with  this  Talk  a  String  of  ^\^lite  Beads  which  I  hope  my  Elder 
Brother  will  take  hold  of  and  think  of  his  younger  Brother  who  is  now  in.  Trouble 
and  Looking  to  him  for  Justice. 

Given  out  by  the  Old  Tassell  for  himself  &  whole  Nation  in  presence  of  the 
headmen  of  the  Upper  &  Lower  Cherokees  &  Interpreted  by  me. 

James  McCormack 
For  the  Governor  of  Virginia  &  North  Carolina. 

It  is  interesting  to  laiow  that  the  string  of  white  wampum  which 
accompanied  this  is  still  preserved  with  the  paper,  now  turned  yellow 
with  age.  There  are  29  beads  on  the  string,  all  polished  and  worn, 
and  these  were  evidently  quite  old  even  when  sent  from  Chote,  when 
the  old  men  of  the  Cherokee  were  seekmg  justice  for  their  people. 
These  and  other  papers  of  a  similar  nature  have  recently  been  dis- 
covered by  the  State  archivist,  Morgan  P.  Robinson,  and  it  is  gratify- 
ing to  know  they  will  now  be  carefully  preserved  together  with  other 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE    SITES  63 

documents  belonging  to  the  days  when  Virginia  had  to  treat  with  the 
Indians  on  its  frontiers. 

Such  were  the  town  houses,  the  council  houses  of  the  Cherokee, 
among  the  most  interesting  buildings  reared  by  the  native  tribes. 
In  general  appearance  they  must  have  closely  resembled  the  ha])ita- 
tions  of  the  Omaha,  the  Mandan,  and  other  tribes  of  the  upper 
Missouri  Valley,  although  often  much  larger  than  the  majority  of 
the  latter  and  of  more  elaborate  ulterior  construction. 

Wliile  many  of  the  toA\ais  stood  on  one  side  of  the  river,  others  are 
known  to  have  occupied  both  banks  of  the  stream.  The  settlement 
of  Sinica  {I'su^niglji,  Mooney)  formerly  stood  on  Keowee  River,  about 
the  mouth  of  Conn  cross  Creek,  in  the  present  Oconee  County,  South 
Carolina.  It  was  visited  by  Bartram  in  May,  1776,  at  which  time  he 
wrote  that  it  was  "situated  on  the  East  bank  of  the  Keowe  river, 
though  the  greatest  number  of  Indian  habitations  are  on  the  oppo- 
site shore,  where  likewise  stands  the  comicil-house,  m  a  level  plam 
betwixt  the  river  and  the  range  of  beautiful  lofty  hills,  which  rise 
magnificently,  and  seem  to  bend  over  the  green  i^lams  and  the  river: 
but  the  chief's  house  with  those  of  the  traders,  and  some  Indian 
dwellmgs,  are  seated  on  the  ascent  of  the  heights  on  the  opposite 
shore."  (Bartram,  W.,  (2),  pp.  327-328.)  This  was  a  new  town 
only  recently  built 

The  town  house  was  the  prmcipal  structure  m  the  Cherokee  vil- 
lages, but  among  the  neighboruig  Muskhogean  tribes,  as  will  be 
shown  on  the  following  pages,  the  town  house,  or  ''rotunda,"  was 
but  one  of  a  group  of  important  buildmgs  in  each  town. 

As  previously  stated,  the  southern  section  of  eastern  United  States, 
that  is,  the  greater  parts  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  and  wide  regions 
of  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolma,  and  Temiessee,  was  claimed  or 
actually  occupied  by  Muskhogean  tribes.  The  best  Ioioami  of  these 
were  the  Choctaw,  Chickasaw,  and  the  numerous  lesser  tribes  which 
were  united  as  the  Creek  Confederacy.  The  Natchez,  although  dis- 
tantly related,  should  probably  be  considered  as  belonging  to  this 
linguistic  family.  Occupymg  such  a  vast  region,  extending  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic,  and  from,  the  high  mountainous  country 
of  the  north  to  the  swampy  lowlands  bordering  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
(pi.  10,  I,  c),  the  different  tribes  developed  distinct  manners  and  cus- 
toms, many  being  shown  in  the  form  and  appearance  of  villages. 

Although  the  Choctaw  have  been  well  known  to  Em^opeans  for 
several  generations,  and  their  to\\'ns  were  visited  by  many  who  left 
accounts  of  colonial  Louisiana,  yet  no  clear  description  of  a  primitive 
Choctaw  village  is  knowTi  to  have  been  preserved.  However,  their 
settlements  do  not  appear  to  have  been  compactly  built,  but  were 
probably  scattered  over  a  wide  area,  in  the  midst  of  a  virgin  forest, 
each  habitation  with  a  small  garden.     Recently  a  brief  though  very 


64  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

interesting  description  of  their  habitations  has  been  cUscovered  in  an 
unpublished  manuscript  which  evidently  dates  from,  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century: 

"Their  house  is  nothing  else  than  a  cabui  made  of  pieces  of  wood 
of  the  size  of  the  leg,  buried  in  the  earth  and  fastened  together  with 
lianas,  wliich  are  very  flexible  bands.  These  cabins  are  surrounded 
with  mud  walls  without  whidows;  the  door  is  only  from  tliree  to  four 
feet  in  height.  They  are  covered  with  bark  of  the  cypress  or  the 
pme.  A  hole  is  left  at  the  top  of  each  gable-end  to  let  the  smoke  out, 
for  they  make  their  fires  in  the  middle  of  the  cabins,  which  are  a 
gunshot  distance  from  each  other.  The  inside  is  surrounded  with 
cane  beds  raised  from  tliree  to  four  feet  from  the  ground." 

Heavy  skins,  such  as  those  of  the  bear,  buffalo,  or  deer,  served  as 
coverings;  others  were  spread  upon  the  "cane  beds."  Their  food 
was  prepared  in  vessels  of  earthenware.  Tliis  description,  although 
quite  ambiguous  in  detail,  evidently  refers  to  structures  of  wattle- 
work  (fig.  4),  covered  with  clay  in  a  plastic  state,  to  wliich  grass  or 
Spanish  moss  had  probably  been  added.  While  the  preceding  ac- 
count was  presented  as  a  general 
description  of  Choctaw  dwellings, 
it  should  be  accepted  as  referring 
more  particularly  to  those  members 
of  the  tribe  who  lived  away  from 
riG.4.-Exampieoiwauieuoik.  (From       the   lowlauds   bordcrmg    the   coast, 

Handbook  of  American  Indians.)  ,.  ^ ,        i     t    /■      ,  V     <     /-n 

acting  on  the  beliei  that  Choctaw 
lived  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Pontchartrain  and  eastward.  Accord- 
ing to  the  statements  of  several  old  Choctaw  now  occupying  a  few 
acres  of  land  near  Bayou  Lacomb,  which  enters  Lake  Pontchartrain 
some  10  miles  east  of  Mandeville,  the  primitive  habitations  of  the 
"old  people"  who  lived  near  the  shore  of  the  lake  were  of  two  forms, 
circular  and  rectangular.  The  frames  were  formed  of  small  saplings, 
the  tops  and  sides  covered  with  palmetto  thatch.  Many  of  the  circu- 
lar structures  were  quite  large  and  served  as  shelter  for  many  per- 
sons. The  single  door  usually  faced  the  south.  The  fire  was  kindled 
on  the  ground  within  near  the  center,  the  smoke  passing  out  tlu'ough 
an  opening  made  for  the  purpose  in  the  center  of  the  top  or  roof. 
Some  examples  of  the  rectangular  thatched  dwelling  have  been  built 
and  occupied  witlfin  the  past  few  years,  one  being  shown  in  figure  5. 
This  particular  structure  stood  near  Mandeville,  St.  Tammany  Par- 
ish, on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Pontchartrain,  m  1879  (Busluiell,  (3), 
p.  7).  Some  20  miles  east  of  Mandeville  was  the  Choctaw  settlement 
of  Bonfouca,  where  Pere  Rouquette  erected  his  first  chapel  during 
the  year  1845.  A  part  of  this  settlement  as  it  was  the  next  year  is 
shown  in  plate  11,  this  bemg  a  reproduction  of  a  painting  made  by 
Bernard,  bearing  the  date  1846.     This  represents  a  group  of  women 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  65 

in  the  foreground,  near  a  firo  in  the  open.  Others  are  gathered  be- 
neath the  shelter  on  the  left,  wliile  to  the  right  of  the  door  of  the  far 
cabin  a  woman  is  busily  engaged  with  mortar  and  pestle,  probably 
prepai'ing  Tcomho  asJiish.  The  use  of  the  large  carrying  basket,  the 
IcisJie  of  the  Choctaw,  is  clearly  indicated,  and  the  group  in  the  fore- 
ground may  be  engaged  in  preparing  dyes  and  the  materials  for  bas- 
ket making,  with  strips  of  cane  scattered  on  the  ground.  The  open 
shelter  was  probably  in  use  throughout  the  South  and  the  one  which 
stood  at  Bonfouca  in  1846  was  imdoubtedly  t3rpical  of  all.     It  closely 


Fig.  5.— Choctaw  house  of  palmetto  thatch. 

resembled  the  houses  of  the  Seminole  as  described  on  another  page. 
This  may  have  been  the  ''summer  house,"  so  often  mentioned. 

Within  the  past  few  years  traces  of  a  settlement,  or  camp  site, 
have  been  encountered  on  a  slight  ridge,  a  hundred  yards  or  more 
from  the  shore  of  Lake  Pontchartrain,  about  12  miles  northeast  of 
New  Orleans.  Many  bits  of  pottery  are  found  mingled  with  the 
shells  and  sand,  and  human  remains  have  been  discovered.  This 
may  have  been  a  landing  place  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  where  parties 
coming  from  the  opposite  side  would  encamp,  or  those  returning 
would  await  favorable  weather  before  attempting  to  cross. 

In  the  year  1771  it  was  said  the  buildings  of  the  Choctaw  were 
"exactly  similar  to  those  of  the  Chicasaws."  (Romans,  (1),  p.  83.) 
108851°— 19 5 


66  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bulu69 

This  would  indicate  that  each  family  had  three  separate  structures — 
a  summer  house,  a  corn  house,  and  a  winter  house.  This  again  may 
refer  to  the  northern  part  of  the  tribe,  living  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Chickasaw.  The  same  writer  left  a  very  interesting  statement 
regarding  the  small  temporary  shelters  erected  by  the  southern  tribes 
when  away  from  their  villages.  He  wrote  of  the  Muskhogean  people 
(p.    65): 

"A  Choctaw  makes  his  camp  in  travelling  in  form  of  a  sugar  loaf; 
a  Chicasaw  makes  it  in  form  of  our  arbours;  a  Creek  like  to  our  sheds, 
or  piazzas,  to  a  timber  house;  in  this  manner  every  nation  has  some 
distinguishing  way. ' ' 

Similar  customs  as  they  existed  among  the  Narraganset,  the 
Algonquian  tribes  of  Virginia,  the  northern  Iroquois,  and  others, 
have  already  been  cited. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Pontchartrain  lived  several  Muskhogean 
tribes  whose  connection  with  the  Choctaw  proper  has  not  been  clearly 
determined.  All  appear  to  have  been  closely  allied,  possibly  forming 
a  confederation  of  tribes  similar  to  that  of  the  Creek  confederacy  in 
early  times.  Among  these  were  the  Acolapissa,  Tangipahoa,  and 
others.  A  village  of  the  former  tribe  then  standing  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Mississippi  a  short  distance  above  New  Orleans  was  visited 
by  Charlevoix  January  4,  1722,  at  which  time  he  wrote: 

"This  is  the  finest  in  all  Louisiana,  though  there  are  not  above  two 
hundred  warriors  in  it,  who,  however,  have  the  reputation  of  being 
very  brave.  Their  cabbins  are  in  the  form  of  a  pavilion  .  .  .  They 
have  a  double  covering,  that  within  being  a  tissue  of  the  leaves  of 
Lataniers  trees,  and  that  without  consists  of  Matts.  The  chief's 
cabbin  is  thirty-six  feet  in  diameter:  I  have  not  hitherto  seen  any  of 
a  larger  size,  that  of  the  chief  of  the  Natchez  being  no  more  than 
thirty."     (Charlevoix,  (1),  II,  p.  285.) 

Much  has  been  written  regarding  the  Natchez,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  native  American  tribes,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  available  material  has  been  gathered  and  presented  in  a  single 
volume  (Swan ton,  (1)).  The  Natchez  settlements,  at  one  time 
nine  in  number,  lay  scattered  along  the  course  of  St.  Catherines 
Creek,  a  few  miles  from  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  on  the  eastern 
edge  of  the  present  city  of  Natchez.  The  dwellings  were  evidently 
widely  dispersed  and  did  not  form  a  compact  group.  One  village, 
the  home  of  the  great  Sun,  probably  served  as  the  center  of  the  nation. 
This  was  the  stopping  place  of  Charlevoix  on  December  25,  1721,  when 
he  prepared  a  brief  description  of  the  town  (op.  cit.,  II,  p.  256) : 

''The  cabbins  of  the  great  village  of  the  Natchez,  the  only  one  I 
have  seen,  are  in  the  form  of  square  pavilions,  very  low,  and  without 
windows.  Their  roofs  are  rounded  pretty  much  in  the  same  manner 
as  an  oven.     Most  of  them  are  covered  with  tiie  leaves  and  straw  of 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE    VILLAGES    AND   VILLAGE    SITES  67 

maiz.  Some  of  them  are  built  of  a  sort  of  mud,  which  seemed  toler- 
ably good,  and  is  covered  outside  and  inside  with  very  thin  mats. 
That  of  the  great  chief  is  rough  cast  very  handsomely  in  the  inside: 
it  is  likewise  larger  and  higher  than  the  rest,  being  placed  in  a  more 
elevated  situation,  and  has  no  cabbins  adjoining  to  it.  It  fronts  a 
large  square,  which  is  none  of  the  most  regular,  and  looks  to  the  north. 
All  the  moveables  I  found  in  it  were  a  bed  of  j^lanks  very  narrow,  and 
raised  about  two  or  three  feet  from  the  ground;  probably  when  the 
chief  lies  down  he  spreads  over  it  a  matt,  or  the  skin  of  some  animal. 
,  .  .  These  cabbins  have  no  vent  for  the  smoke,  notwithstanding  those 
into  which  I  entered  were  tolerably  white.  The  temple  stands  at 
the  side  of  the  chief's  cabbin,  facing  the  east,  and  at  the  extremity 
of  the  square.  It  is  built  of  the  same  material,  with  the  cabbins, 
but  of  a  different  shape,  bemg  an  oblong  square,  forty  feet  in  length, 
and  twenty  in  breadth,  with  a  very  simple  roof,  in  the  same  form  as 
ours.  At  each  extremity  there  is  something  like  a  weather-cock  of 
wood,  which  has  a  very  coarse  resemblance  of  an  eagle.  The  gate  is 
in  the  middle  of  the  length  of  the  building,  which  has  no  other  open- 
ing: on  each  side  there  are  seats  of  stone.  Wliat  is  ^dthiii  is  quite 
correspondent  to  this  rustic  outside.  Three  pieces  of  wood,  joined 
at  the  extremity,  and  placed  in  a  triangle,  or  rather  at  an  equal 
distance  from  one  another,  take  up  almost  the  whole  middle  space 
of  the  temple,  and  burn  slowly  away.  An  Indian,  whom  they  call 
keeper  of  the  temple,  is  obliged  to  tend  them,  and  to  prevent  their 
going  out.  If  the  weather  is  cold  he  may  have  a  fire  for  hmiself,  for 
he  is  not  allowed  to  warm  himself  at  this,  which  burns  in  honour  of  the 
sun  .  .  .  Ornaments  I  saw  none,  nor  anything  indeed  which  could 
inform  me  that  this  was  a  temple.  I  saw  only  three  or  four  boxes 
lying  in  disorder,  with  a  few  dry  bones  in  them,  and  some  wooden 
heads  on  the  ground,  of  somewhat  better  workmanship  than  the  eagles 
on  the  roof.  In  short,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  fire,  I  should  have 
believed  this  temple  had  been  deserted  for  some  time,  or  that  it  had 
been  lately  plundered." 

The  structure  designated  the  temple  was  themost  important  building 
in  the  village.  As  should  be  expected,  the  various  early  descriptions  of 
the  Natchez  village  did  not  always  agree  in  detail,  but  it  is  possible  to 
form  a  rather  clear  conception  of  their  appearance.  According  to 
Du  Pratz,  who  gave  a  vivid  account  of  the  method  of  constructing  the 
houses,  all  the  cabins  were  perfectly  square,  none  less  thaii  15  feet  each 
way,  and  some  30  or  more  feet  on  a  side.  Hickory  saplings  about  4 
inches  in  diameter  were  placed  firmly  in  the  ground  at  the  four 
corners.  Others,  probably  smaller,  were  arranged  about  15  inches 
apart  in  lines  between  the  corner  posts,  forming  the  walls  of  the  struc- 
ture. Poles  were  then  fastened  on  the  inside  of  these  in  a  horizontal 
position,  bound  and  held  by  split  canes.     The  four  corner  poles,  which 


68  BUREAU   OF   AMERICA2^   ETHNOLOGY  [bdll.  69 

were  as  much  as  20  feet  in  length,  were  bent  inward,  thus  meeting  in 
the  center  of  the  frame,  and  were  fastened.  The  poles  along  the 
sides  were  likewise  bent  in  and  so  secured  to  the  four  principal  sup- 
ports. The  frame  was  then  covered  with  a  "mortar  of  mud  mixed 
with  Spanish  beard,  with  which  they  fill  up  all  the  chinks,  leaving  no 
opening  but  the  door,  and  the  mud  they  cover  both  outside  and  inside 
with  mats  made  of  the  splits  of  cane.  The  roof  is  thatched  with  turf 
and  straw  intermixed,  and  over  all  is  laid  a  mat  of  canes,  which  is 
fastened  to  the  tops  of  the  walls  by  the  creeping  plant.  These  huts 
will  last  20  years  without  any  repairs."  (Du  Pratz,  (1),  II,  pp.  224- 
225.) 

Within  the  habitations  raised  platforms,  a  foot  or  more  above  the 
ground,  served  as  sleeping  places.  These  were  covered  with  heavy 
skins  during  the  cold  season,  and  often  with  mats  during  the  summer. 
Bags  fiUed  with  Spanish  moss  were  used  on  the  beds.  Low  stools  were 
seen  by  Du  Pratz  but  were  seldom  used.  Surrounding  the  houses 
were  fields  of  corn,  their  principal  food.  The  corn  was  pounded  and 
crushed  in  wooden  mortars,  formed  by  hollowing  sections  of  trees. 
Pottery  vessels  of  many  forms  were  made,  some  of  sufficient  size  to 
hold  15  quarts.  Little  now  remains  to  mark  the  sites  of  the  settle- 
ments of  these  interesting  people  who,  at  the  time  of  the  first  coming 
of  the  French,  ranked  as  one  of  the  most  important  tribes  of  the  lower 
Mississippi  Valley. 

Near  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  present  State  of  Mississippi, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Yazoo  and  Tombigbee  Rivers, 
about  the  region  now  included  in  Union  and  Pontotoc  Counties,  lived 
the  Chickasaw,  ever  enemies  of  the  neighboring  Choctaw,  although 
speaking  the  same  language  and  having  many  customs  in  common. 
Writing  of  the  Chickasaw  in  1771,  Romans  said: 

"They  live  nearly  in  the  center  of  a  very  large  and  somewhat 
uneven  savannah,  of  a  diameter  of  above  three  miles.  .  .  They  have 
in  this  field  what  might  be  called  one  town  or  rather  an  assemblage  of 
butts,  and  very  narrow  and  irregular;  this  however  they  divide  into 
seven,  by  the  names  of  Melattaw  (i.  e.)  hat  and  feather,  CJiatelaw  (i.  e.) 
copper  town,  Cliukafalaya  (i.  e.)  long  town,  Hikiliaw  (i.  e.)  stand  still, 
Chucalissa  (i.  e.)  great  town,  Tuckahaw  (i.  e.)  a  certain  weed,  and 
AsTiuck  Jiooma  (i.e.)  red  grass ;  this  w^as  formerly  inclosed  in  palisadoes, 
and  thus  well  fortified  against  the  attacks  of  smaU  arms,  but  now  it 
lays  open."      (Romans,  (1),  pp.  62-63.) 

Among  the  Chickasaw  each  family  had  a  group  of  three  buildings, 
instead  of  the  single  structure  usually  claimed  by  an  Indian  family. 
This  was  likewise  the  practice  among  the  Creek,  who,  however,  often 
added  a  fourth,  a  storehouse.  Romans  described  the  houses  of  the 
Chickasaw  as  they  were  in  1771  (op.  cit.,  p.  67) : 

"Their  habitations  at  home  consist  of  three  buildings,  a  summer 
house,  a  corn  house,  and  a  winter  house,  called  a  hot  house;  the  two 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  69 

first  are  oblong  squares,  the  latter  is  circular,  they  have  no  chimnies 
but  let  the  smoke  find  its  way  out  through  a  hole  at  the  top  in  their 
dwelling  houses,  but  in  the  hot  houses,  where  it  can,  in  these  they 
make  large  wood  fires,  on  the  middle  of  the  floor,  which  being  by  even- 
ing all  coals,  they  enter  it,  and  sleep  on  benches  made  round  the  inside 
of  the  building." 

As  Romans  remarked,  the  buildings  of  the  Choctaw  were  ' '  exactly 
similar  to  those  of  the  Chickasaw,"  this  description  should  therefore 
apply  to  the  houses  of  both  tribes,  especially  to  the  northern  Choctaw 
living  near  the  Chickasaw. 

James  Adair,  who  spent  many  years  as  a  trader  among  the  southern 
Indians,  and  whose  work  treats  principally  of  the  Chickasaw  among 
whom  he  lived  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  has  left  a  detailed  account 
of  the  manner  in  which  they  constructed  their  different  houses. 
(Adair,  (1),  pp.  417-421.)  The  whole  village  aided  in  the  work,  "and 
frequently  the  nearest  of  their  tribe  in  neighboring  towns,  assist 
one  another.  .  .  In  one  day,  they  build,  daub  with  their  tough 
mortar  mixed  with  dry  grass,  and  thoroughly  finish,  a  good  commo- 
dious house.  They  first  trace  the  dimensions  of  the  intended  fabric, 
and  every  one  has  his  task  prescribed  him  after  the  exactest  manner. 
.  .  .  For  their  summer  houses,  they  generally  fix  strong  posts  of 
pitch-pine  deep  in  the  ground,  which  will  last  for  several  ages." 

The  posts  being  of  equal  height  were  notched  to  hold  the  waU 
plates.  A  larger  post  was  then  placed  in  the  middle  of  each  gable 
end,  and  another  in  the  center  of  the  house  to  mark  the  position  of 
the  partition.  The  frame  was  completed  by  using  many  small  split 
saplings  and  some  larger  logs,  all  of  which  were  secured  by  tying. 
The  outside  was  made  of  "pine,  or  cypress  clap-boards,  which  they 
can  split  readily;  and  crown  the  work  with  the  bark  of  the  same  trees, 
all  of  a  proper  length  and  breadth,  which  they  had  before  provided." 

The  covering  was  held  in  place  by  split  saplings,  tied  to  the  frame 
at  the  ends. 

"  They  provide  themselves  for  the  winter  with  hot-houses  ...  To 
raise  these,  they  fix  .deep  in  the  ground,  a  sufficient  number  of  strong 
forked  posts,  at  a  proportional  distance,  in  a  circular  form,  all  of  an 
equal  height,  about  five  or  six  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground: 
above  these,  they  tie  very  securely  large  pieces  of  the  heart  of  white 
oak,  which  are  of  a  tough  flexible  nature,  interweaving  this  orbit,  from 
top  to  bottom,  with  pieces  of  the  same,  or  the  like  timber.  Then  in 
the  middle  of  the  fabric  they  fix  very  deep  in  the  ground,  four  large 
pine  posts,  in  a  quadrangular  form,  notched  a-top,  on  which  they  lay 
a  number  of  heavy  logs,  let  into  each  other,  and  rounding  gi-adu- 
ally  to  the  top.  Above  this  huge  pile,  to  the  very  top,  they  lay  a  num- 
ber of  long  dry  poles,  all  properly  notched,  to  keep  strong  hold  of  the 
under  posts  and  wall-plate.     Then  they  weave  them  thick  with  their 


70  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

split  sapplings,  and  daub  them  all  over  about  six  or  seven  inches  thick 
with  tough  clay,  well  mixt  w^th  withered  gi'ass:  when  this  cement 
is  half  dried,  they  thatch  the  house  with  the  longest  sort  of  dry  grass 
that  their  land  produces.  They  first  lay  on  one  round  tier,  placing  a 
split  sappling  a-top,  well  tied  to  different  parts  of  the  under  pieces 
of  timber,  about  fifteen  inches  below  the  eave:  and,  in  this  manner, 
they  proceed  circularly  to  the  very  spire,  where  commonly  a  pole  is 
fixed,  that  displays  on  the  top  the  figure  of  a  large  carved  eagle.  At 
a  small  distance  below  which,  four  heavy  logs  are  strongly  tied  together 
across,  in  a  quadrangular  form,  in  order  to  secure  the  roof  .  .  .  The 
door  of  tliis  winter  palace,  is  commonly  about  four  feet  high,  and  so 
narrow  as  not  to  admit  two  to  enter  it  abreast,  with  a  winding  passage 
for  the  space  of  six  or  seven  feet,  to  secure  themselves  both  from  the 
power  of  the  bleak  winds,  and  of  an  invading  enemy.  As  they  usually 
build  on  rising  ground,  the  floor  is  often  a  yard  lower  than  the  earth, 
which  serves  them  as  a  breast  work  against  an  enemy:  and  a  small 
peeping  window  is  level  with  the  surface  of  the  outside  ground  .  .  . 
in  the  fall  of  the  year,  as  soon  as  the  sun  begins  to  lose  his  warming 
power,  some  of  the  women  make  a  large  fire  [within  the  house]  .  .  . 
When  the  fire  is  a  little  more  than  half  burned  down,  they  cover  it 
over  with  ashes." 

During  the  night  the  occupants  of  the  beds  or  couches  would  reach 
with  long  canes  and  ''strike  off  some  of  the  top  embers,"  thus  keeping 
a  glo%ving  surface  exposed.  The  fire  would  usually  die  out  about 
the  break  of-  day.  The  same  author  (p.  421)  refers  to  the  council 
house,  one  in  every  town,  "the  only  difference  between  it,  and  the 
winter  house  or  stove,  is  in  its  dimensions,  and  application.  It  is 
usually  built  on  the  top  of  a  hill;  and,  in  that  separate  and  imperial 
state  house,  the  old  beloved  men  and  head  warriors  meet  on  material 
business,  or  to  divert  themselves,  and  feast  and  dance  with  the  rest 
of  the  people." 

It  is  remarkable  how  similar  is  Catlin's  description  of  the  earth- 
covered  structures  of  the  Mandan,  as  seen  by  him  during  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century,  and  the  preceding  account  by  Adair  of  the 
appearance  and  construction  of  the  winter  house  of  the  Chickasaw. 
It  is  difficult  to  believe  they  did  not  have  a  conmion  origin,  and  al- 
though the  Mandan  were  then  living  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
region  treated  in  the  present  paper,  nevertheless  Catlin's  description 
should  be  quoted  as  it  will  tend  to  make  more  clear  the  origin  of  cer- 
tain sites  to  be  mentioned  on  another  page. 

The  gi-eat  village  of  the  Mandan  stood  on  a  high  point  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Missouri.  The  point  was  at  a  bend  of  the  river  which 
thus  protected  it  on  three  sides,  and  Catlin  wrote: 

"They  have  therefore  but  one  side  to  protect,  which  is  effectually 
done  by  a  strong  piquet,  and  a  ditch  inside  of  it,  of  three  or  four  feet 


BDSHNELL]  NATIVE    VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  71 

in  depth.  The  piquet  is  composed  of  timbers  of  a  foot  or  more  in 
diameter,  and  eighteen  feet  high,  set  firmly  in  the  ground  at  sufficient 
distance  from  each  other  to  admit  of  guns  and  other  missils  to  be  fired 
between  them.'' 

The  structures  witliin  the  protected  area  were  very  close  together — 

"They  all  have  a  circular  form,  and  are  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  in 
diameter.  Their  foundations  are  prepared  by  digging  some  two  feet 
in  the  gi-ound,  and  forming  the  floor  of  earth,  by  leveling  the  requisite 
size  for  the  lodge.  The  floors  or  foundation  are  all  perfectly  circu- 
lar .  .  .  The  superstructure  is  then  produced,  by  arranging,  inside 
of  tliis  circular  excavation,  firmly  fixed  in  the  ground  and  resting 
against  the  bank,  a  barrier  or  wall  of  timbers,  some  eight  or  nine 
inches  in  diameter,  of  equal  height  (about  six  feet)  placed  on  end,  and 
resting  against  each  other,  supported  by  a  formidable  embankment 
of  earth  raised  against  them  outside;  then,  resting  upon  the  tops  of 
these  timbers  or  piles,  are  others  of  equal  size  and  equal  in  numbers, 
of  twenty-five  feet  in  length,  resting  firmly  against  each  other  and 
sending  their  upper  or  smaller  ends  towards  the  center  and  top  of  the 
lodge ;  rising  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degi^ees  to  the  apex  or  sky-light, 
which  is  about  tlu*ee  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  answering  as  a  chimney 
and  a  sky-light  at  the  same  time.  The  roof  of  the  lodge  being  thus 
formed,  is  supported  by  beams  passing  around  the  inner  part  of  the 
lodge  about  the  middle  of  the  poles  or  timbers,  and  themselves  up- 
held by  four  or  five  large  posts  passing  down  to  thejloor  of  the  lodge. 
On  the  top  of,  and  over  the  poles  forming  the  roof,  is  placed  a  complete 
mat  of  willow  boughs,  of  half  a  foot  or  more  in  thickness,  wliich  pro- 
tects the  timbers  from  the  dampness  of  the  earth,  with  which  the 
lodge  is  covered  from  bottom  to  top,  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three  feet; 
and  then  with  a  hard  or  tough  clay  wliich  is  impervious  to  water,  and 
which  with  long  use  becomes  quite  hard."      (Catlin,  (1),  I,  pp.  81-82.) 

A  circular  excavation  some  4  or  5  feet  in  diameter,  a  foot  or  more 
in  depth  and  curbed  with  stones,  made  in  the  center  of  the  floor  of 
the  structure^  served  as  the  fireplace.  Beds  were  formed  by  stretch- 
ing buffalo  skins  over  frames  of  poles  lashed  securely  together. 
These  extended  around  the  inside  wall  and  each  was  curtained  by 
skins,  some  of  which  were  elaborately  painted,  others  being  decorated 
with  quillwork.  These  beds  are  quite  suggestive  of  the  "cabins" 
seen  by  Dickenson  in  the  great  round  houses  which  stood  in  the  vil- 
lages on  the  coast  north  of  St.  Augustine  during  the  autumn  of  1699, 
and  which  are  described  on  another  page. 

The  earth  lodge  was  erected  by  many  of  the  plains  tribes,  including 
the  Pawnee,  and  in  plate  12  is  reproduced  a  very  remarkable  photo- 
graph of  a  Pawnee  village  made  about  50  years  ago.  The  great  town 
houses  of  the  southern  tribes  undoubtedly  resembled  these  struc- 
tures, althouo-h  some  seem  to  have  had  a  thatch  of  grass  outside  the 


72  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

earth  covering.  Some  of  the  more  ancient  villages  in  the  lower 
Mississippi  Valley  may  have  resembled  the  Pawnee  village  of  half  a 
century  ago. 

It  is  quite  evident  the  town  houses  of  the  southern  tribes  in  early 
times  stood  on  the  smnmit  of  artificial  mounds  wliich  had  been 
erected  for  the  purpose.  This  was  certainly  true  among  the  Cherokee 
and  Creeks,  and  probably  among  the  Chickasaw.  Seldom  were  the 
villages  of  the  southern  tribes  compactly  built.  The  separate  dwellings 
or  groups  of  structures  which  constituted  the  unit  were  often  widely 
scattered,  surrounded  by  their  own  fields  and  gardens.  In  such 
instances  the  town  house  became  the  center  of  the  community,  the 
gathering  place  for  the  people,  just  as  the  courthouse  serves  as  the 
rallying  place  in  rural  districts.  The  custom  of  erecting  the  towTi 
house  on  the  summit  of  an  artificial  mound  may  have  been  inaugu- 
rated through  a  desire  to  elevate  the  structure  above  the  level  of  the 
water  in  time  of  flood,  as  many  of  the  towns  stood  on  the  lowlands 
along  water  courses.  In  tliis  connection  it  is  more  than  probable 
the  occurrence  of  one  or  more  mounds  at  widely  separated  places 
along  the  southern  rivers  indicate  the  site  of  a  former  village,  and 
while  slight  traces  now  remain  of  the  toAMis,  which  are  undoubtedly 
quite  extensive,  many  including  a  hundred  or  more  houses,  it  is 
easily  conceived  that  such  a  condition  would  have  resulted  from  the 
freshets  which  have  swept  away  practically  all  signs  of  the  former 
settlement. 

A  century  or  more  ago  the  towns  of  the  Creek  confederacy  were 
munerous  tliroughout  the  country  they  then  occupied.  The  con- 
federacy, formed  of  many  small  tribes  and  remnants  and  parts  of 
others,  as  a  whole,  was  the  largest  division  of  the  Muskhogean  linguis- 
tic family.  The  towns  of  the  Upper  Creeks  were  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa,  streams  which  unite  a  short  distance  above 
the  city  of  Montgomery,  Alabama.  The  Lower  Creeks  were  farther 
southeast  on  the  Chattahoochee  and  Flint  Kivers.  Of  the'  Lower 
Creek  towns  Cussetah  was  one  of  the  most  important,  and  possibly 
one  of  the  most  ancient,  as  its  name  has  been  identified  in  the  narra- 
tive of  De  Soto's  expedition  in  1540.  It  stood  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Chattahoochee,  a  few  miles  below  the  present  city  of  Columbus, 
Georgia.  A  description  of  the  town  as  it  was  in  1820  proves  it  to 
have  been  an  important  center: 

"It  appears  to  consist  of  about  100  houses,  many  of  them  elevated 
on  poles  from  two  to  six  feet  high,  and  built  of  unhewn  logs,  with 
roofs  of  bark,  and  little  patches  of  Indian  corn  before  the  doors. 
The  women  were  hard  at  work,  digging  the  ground,  pounding  Indian 
corn,  or  carrying  heavy  loads  of  water  from  the  river:  the  men  were 
either  setting  out  to  the  woods  with  their  guns,  or  lying  idle  before 
the  doors ;  and  the  cliildrcn  were  amusing  themselves  in  little  groups 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  73 

...  In  the  center  of  the  to^^'n,  we  passe^..  a  large  building,  with  a 
conical  roof,  supported  by  a  circular  wall  about  tliree  feet  high:  close 
to  it  was  a  quadi-angular  space,  enclosed  by  four  open  buildings, 
with  rows  of  benches  rising  above  one  another:  the  whole  appro- 
priated, we  were  informed,  to  the  Great  Council  of  the  town,  who 
meet,  under  shelter,  or  in  the  open  air,  according  to  the  weather. 
Near  the  spot  was  a  liigh  pole,  like  our  May-poles,  with  a  bird  at  the 
top,  round  which  the  Indians  celebrate  theu'  Green-Corn  Dance. 
The  town  or  to^\^lsllip  of  Cosito  is  said  to  be  able  to  muster  700  war- 
riors."    (Hodgson,  (1),  p.  265.) 

At  this  time  the  village  had  lost  much  of  its  i:)rimitivc  aspect,  but 
the  rotunda,  "a  large  building  with  a  conical  roof,"  had  evidently 
retained  its  ancient  form.  Here  stood  two  rather  large  artificial 
mounds,  one  circular,  the  other  rectangular,  relics  of  earlier  days 
when  the  former  was  probably  surmounted  by  the  great  round  struc- 
ture, the  winter  council  house.  The  site  of  this  once  large  settlement 
has  been  cultivated  for  many  years;  the  two  ancient  mounds  have  been 
worn  down  by  the  plow  and  soon  will  have  disappeared.  No  traces 
remain  of  the  many  houses,  the  public  square,  and  the  larger  building 
which  served  to  bound  it.  A  few  objects  of  stone  and  small  frag- 
ments of  pottery  are  found  scattered  over  the  surf ace^ — all  that  marks 
the  position  of  the  once  important  town  of  Cussetah,  and  what  is 
true  concerning  this  ancient  site  is  equally  true  of  many  others 
throughout  the  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic. 

In  the  preceding  account  of  Cussetah  as  it  was  a  century  ago  is  a 
reference  to  '  'a  quadrangular  space,  enclosed  by  four  open  buildings." 
This  was  the  Public  Scpare,  so  characteristic  of  the  Creek  towns.  As 
described  by  Bartram  in  1789: 

'  'The  Public  Square  of  the  Creeks  consists  of  four  buildings  of  equal 
size,  placed  one  upon  each  side  of  a  quadrangular  court.  The  prin- 
cipal or  Council  House  is  divided  transversely  into  three  equal  apart- 
ments, separated  from  each  other  by  a  low  clay  waU.  This  building 
is  also  divided  longitudinally  into  two  nearly  equal  parts;  the  fore- 
most or  front  is  an  open  piazza,  where  are  seats  for  the  council.  The 
middle  apartment  is  for  the  king  (mico) ,  the  great  war  chief,  second 
head  man,  and  other  venerable  and  worthy  chiefs  and  warriors.  The 
two  others  are  for  the  warriors  and  citizens  generally.  The  back 
apartment  of  this  house  is  quite  close  and  dark,  and  without  en- 
trances, except  tliree  very  low  arched  holes  or  doors  for  admitting  the 
priests.  Here  are  deposited  all  the  most  valuable  public  thmgs,  as 
the  eagle's  tail  or  national  standard,  the  sacred  calumet,  the  drums, 
and  all  apparatus  of  the  priests.  Fronting  this  is  another  building 
called  the  'Banqueting  House;'  and  the  edifices  upon  either  hand  are 
haUs  to  accommodate  the  people  on  public  occasions,  as  feasts,  fes- 
tivals, etc.     The  three  buildings  last  mentioned  are  very  much  alike 


74 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


[BULL.  69 


and  differ  from  the  Council  House  only  in  not  having  the  close  back 
apartment."      (Bartram,  W.,  (1),  pp.  53-54.) 

The  relative  positions  of  the  three  principal  features  of  the  Creek 
towns,  the  "Chunky- Yard,  Public  Square,  and  Rotunda,"  as  ar- 
ranged in  the  "modern  Creek  towns, "  was  shown  by  the  accompany- 
ing plan  made  by  Bartram  in  1789  (fig.  6).  In  this  A  represents  the 
public  square,  with  the  four  buildings.  B  "the  Rotunda;  a,  the  door 
opening  toward  the  sc[uare;  the  three  circular  lines  show  the  two  rows 
of  seats,  sofas,  or  cabins;  the  punctures  show  the  pillars  or  columns 
which  support  the  building;  c,  the  great  central  pillar,  or  columns 
surrounded  by  the  spiral  fire,  which  gives  light  to  the  house."  C 
represents  a  part  of  the  chunky  yard.  Now,  while  this  was  the  plan 
as  followed  in  later  times,  the  earlier  arrangement  was  different, 
having  the  chunky  yard   between   the   other  units  of   the  group. 

§    <^MittlHI!lMI'll 


5  -^////(iiiiiHlJUl 
^/(llimillllllll! 


Fig.  6.— Principal  structures  of  a  Creek  town  in  1789. 


Bartram's  sketch  of  the  older  method  is  reproduced  in  figure  7.     It 
was  described  thus  (p.  52) : 

'  'A,  the  great  area,  surrounded  by  terraces  or  banks,  B,  a  circular 
eminence,  at  one  end  of  the  yard,  commonly  nine  or  ten  feet  higher 
than  the  groimd  round  about.  Upon  this  mound  stands  the  great 
Rotunda,  Hot  House,  or  Winter  Council  House,  of  the  present  Creeks. 
It  was  probably  designed  and  used  by  the  ancients  who  constructed 
it,  for  the  same  purpose.  C,  a  square  terrace  or  eminence,  about  the 
same  height  with  the  circular  one  just  described,  occupying  a  position 
at  the  other  end  of  the  yard.  Upon  this  stands  the  PuUic  Square. 
The  banks  inclosing  the  yard  are  indicated  by  the  letters  h,  h,  h,  h] 
c  indicates  the  'Chunk-Pole,'  and  d,  d,  the  'Slave-Posts.'  Sometimes 
the  square,  instead  of  being  open  at  the  ends  ...  is  closed  upon 
all  sides  by  the  banks.  In  the  lately  built  [1789],  or  new  Creek  towns, 
they  do  not  raise  a  mound  for  the  foundation  of  their  Rotundas  or 


bushnell] 


NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES 


75 


Public  Squares.  The  yard,  however,  is  retained,  and  the  pubhc 
buildings  occupy  nearly  the  same  position  in  respect  to  it.  They  also 
retain  the  central  obelisk  and  the  slave-posts." 

Following  this  description  of  the  more  ancient  towns,  it  appears 
quite  evident  that  the  large  circular  mound  on  the  site  of  Cussetah 
was  occupied  by  the  rotunda,  while  the  four  buildings  inclosing  the 
public  square  stood  on  the  summit  of  the  large  rectangular  work, 
and  the  space  between  the  artificial  mounds  was  covered  by  the 
chunky  yard.  Cussetah  should  probably  be  accepted  as  having  been 
a  typical  Creek  town,  presenting  features  characteristic  of  many 
villages  in  the  valleys  of  the  Flint 
and  Chattahoochee,  Coosa,  and 
Tallapoosa;  the  villages  of  the 
Chickasaw  may  have  been  quite 
similar.  A  concise  description 
of  the  manner  of  constructing  a 
great  circular  house  has  been  pre- 
served. (Hawkins,  B.,  (1),  pp. 
71-72.)  It  was  called  by  the 
Creeks  Chodc-ofau  tlduc-co,  and 
by  the  traders  was  known  as  the 
"hot-house." 

''Eight  posts  are  fixed  in  the 
gTound,  forming  an  octagon  of 
thirty  feet  diameter.  They  are 
twelve  feet  high,  and  large 
enough  to  support  the  I'oof .  On 
these,  five  or  six  logs  are  placed, 
of  a  side,  drawn  in  as  they  rise. 
On  these,  long  poles  or  rafters,  to 
suit  the  height  of  the  building, 
are  laid,  the  upper  ends  forming 
a  point,  and  the  lower  ends  pro- 
jecting out  six  feet  from  the  oc- 
tagon, and  resting  on  posts  five  feet  high,  placed  in  a  circle  round 
the  octagon,  with  plates  on  them,  to  which  the  rafters  are  tied  with 
splits.  The  rafters  are  near  together,  and  fastened  with  splits.  These 
are  covered  with  cla}',  and  that  with  i)ine  bark ;  the  wall,  six  feet  from 
the  octagon,  is  clayed  up;  they  have  a  small  door  into  a  small  por- 
tico, curved  round  for  five  or  six  feet,  then  into  the  house.  The  space 
between  the  octagon  and  the  wall,  is  one  entire  sopha,  where  the 
visiters  lie  or  sit  at  pleasure.  It  is  covered  with  reed,  mat  or  splits. 
In  the  center  of  the  room,  on  a  small  rise,  the  fire  is  made,  of  dry 
cane  or  dry  old  pine  slabs,  split  fine,  and  laid  in  a  spiral  circle.  This 
is  the  assembly  room  for  all  people,  old  and  young;  they  assemble 
every  night,  and  amuse  themselves  with  dancmg,  singing,  or  conver- 


<,-v»>^ 


Fig.  7.— Older  method  of  placing  the  principal 
structures  in  a  Creek  town. 


76  BUREAtJ   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

sation.  And  here,  sometimes,  in  very  cold  weather,  the  old  and 
naked  sleep.  In  all  transactions  which  require  secrecy,  the  rulers  meet 
here,  make  their  fire,  deliberate  and  decide." 

The  peculiarity  of  a  fire  of  split  canes,  ''laid  in  a  spiral  circle,"  as 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  description,  attracted  the  attention  of 
Bartram.  As  witnessed  by  him,  many  pieces  of  split  cane,  about  2 
feet  in  length,  were  prepared,  "then  placed  obliquely  crossways 
upon  one  another  on  the  floor,  forming  a  spiral  circle  round  about 
the  great  centre  pillar,  rising  to  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  in  height 
from  the  ground;  and  this  circle  spreading  as  it  proceeds  round  and 
round,  often  repeated  from  right  to  left,  every  revolution  encreases 
its  diameter,  and  at  length  extends  to  the  distance  of  ten  or  twelve 
feet  from  the  centre,  more  or  less,  according  to  the  length  of  time 
the  assembly  or  meeting  is  to  continue.  By  the  time  these  prepara- 
tions are  accomplished,  it  is  night,  and  the  assembly  have  taken 
their  seats  in  order.  The  exterior  extremity  or  outer  end  of  the 
spiral  circle  takes  fire  and  immediately  rises  into  a  bright  flame  (but 
how  this  is  effected  I  did  not  plainly  apprehend;  I  saw  no  person 
set  fire  to  it;  there  might  have  been  fire  left  on  the  hearth,  however 
I  neither  saw  nor  smelt  fire  or  smoke  until  the  blaze  instantly  as- 
cended upwards),  which  gradually  and  slowly  creeps  round  the 
centre  pillar,  with  the  course  of  the  sun,  feeding  on  the  dry  canes, 
and  affords  a  cheerful,  gentle  and  sufficient  light  until  the  circle  is 
consumed,  when  the  council  breaks  up."  (Bartram,  W.,  (2),  pp. 
449-450.) 

This  was  certainly  a  singular  manner  of  adding  warmth  and  light 
to  the  interior  of  the  council  house,  and  the  same  writer  remarked 
in  another  work  ((1),  p.  27.) : 

"The  Spiral  Fire,  on  the  hearth  or  floor  of  the  Rotunda,  is  very 
curious;  it  seems  to  light  up  in  a  flame  of  itself  at  the  appointed 
time,  but  how  this  is  done  I  kno\v  not." 

The  four  structures  bounding  a  typical  Cceek  town  "square" 
were  clearly  described  by  Hawkins,  who  wrote  about  the  year  1800. 
All  were  of  equal  size,  covering  a  space  of  about  40  by  16  feet,  8 
feet  pitch,  of  one  story,  "  the  entrance  at  each  corner.  Each  building 
is  a  wooden  frame,  supported  on  posts  set  in  the  ground,  covered 
with  slabs,  open  in  front  like  a  piazza,  divided  into  three  rooms,  the 
back  and  ends  clayed,  up  to  the  plates.  Each  division  is  divided 
lengthwise,  into  two  seats ;  the  front,  two  feet  liigh,  extending  back 
half  way,  covered  with  reed  mats  or  slabs;  then  a  rise  of  one  foot, 
and  it  extends  back,  covered  in  like  manner,  to  the  side  of  the  build- 
ing.    On  these  seats  they  lie  or  sit  at  pleasure." 

The  structure  facing  the  east  was  the  "  Mic-co's  cahin,"  the  center 
apartment  always  being  occupied  by  the  village  chief,  or  Mico,  and 
here  would  be  received  the  chiefs  of  other  towns,  the  Indian  agent. 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  77 

and  others  of  note.  The  division  on  the  right  was  occupied  by  the 
principal  counsellors,  the  "  Mic-ug-gee, "  and  that  on  the  left  by  the 
''E-ne-hau  Ul-gee,"  'people  second  in  command.  Facing  the  south 
was  the  warrior's  cabin. 

"The  head  warrior  sits  at  the  west  end  of  his  cabin,  and  in  his 
division  the  great  warriors  sit  beside  each  other.  The  next  in  rank 
sit  in  the  centre  division,  and  the  young  warriors  in  the  tliird." 

On  the  south  side  of  the  square,  facing  north,  stood  the  "cabin 
of  the  beloved  men."  These  are  great  men  who,  by  reason  of  notable 
deeds,  have  become  advisers  or  counsellors  of  the  chief  and  sit  in  the 
south  division  of  his  cabin.  "The  family  of  the  Mic-co,  and  great 
men  who  have  thus  distinguished  themselves,  occupy  this  cabin  of 
the  beloved  men."  The  fom-th  building  facing  the  square,  that  on 
the  east,  was  the  ''cahin  of  the  young  people  and  their  associates." 
(Hawkins,  B.,  (1),  pp.  68-71.) 

As  previously  mentioned,  Cussetah  stood  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Chattahoochee  a  short  distance  below  the  present  city  of  Columbus, 
Georgia.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream,  about  3  miles  below 
the  falls  facing  Columbus,  was  the  ancient  village  of  Coweta.  A 
fishing  station  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  at  the  foot  of  the  falls 
belonged  to  the  people  of  Coweta,  but  the  lands  from  there  south- 
ward to  Cussetah  were  claimed  by  the  latter.  Coweta  was  visited 
by  Governor  Oglethorpe  in  1740  and  a  brief  account  of  the  town 
was  recorded  in  a  journal  kept  by  a  member  of  the  expedition,  the 
original  manuscript  being  in  the  British  Museum.  From  it  the 
following  extracts  were  made : 

"Their  Houses  or  Hutts  are  built  with  Stakes  and  Plaistered  w*** 
clay  Mixed  with  Moss  which  makes  them  very  warm  and  Tite.  They 
dress  their  Meat  in  Large  pans  made  of  Earth  and  not  much  unlike 
our  Beehives  in  England." 

The  night  of  the  arrival  of  the  English  at  Coweta  they  were  enter- 
tained by  the  chief  men,  by  whom  they  were  conducted  to  "the 
Square  to  see  the  Indians  dance.  They  dance  round  a  large  Fire  by 
the  beating  of  a  small  Drum  and  six  men  singing,  their  dress  is  very 
wild  &  frightful,  their  faces  painted  with  several  sorts  of  colours, 
their  hair  cut  short  except  three  locks  one  of  w'^''  hangs  over  their 
Forehead  like  a  horses  fore  top.  Tliey  paint  the  short  Hair  and  stick 
it  full  of  Feathers.  They  have  Bells  and  rattles  about  their  Waist 
and  several  tilings  in  their  hands.  Their  dancing  is  of  divers  Ges- 
tures and  Turnings  of  the  Bodies  in  a  great  many  frightful  Postures. 
The  women  are  mostly  naked  to  the  waist  wearing  only  one  short 
Peticoat  W^*^  readies  to  the  Calves  of  their  Legs."  (Buslmell,  (4), 
p.  573.) 

The  towns  of  the  Creek  confederacy  were  either  "war  towns"  or 
"peace  towns,"  and  while  Coweta  belonged  to  the  former  class  the 


78  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAlSr   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

Hitcliiti  town  of  Apalachicola,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  some 
miles  southward,  belonged  to  the  latter.  Visited  by  Bartram,  it  was 
described  as  being  ' '  the  mother  town  or  Capital  of  the  Creek  or  Mus- 
cogulge  confederacy:  sacred  to  peace;  no  captives  are  put  to  death 
or  human  blood  spilt  here.  And  when  a  general  peace  is  proposed, 
deputies  from  all  the  towns  in  the  confederacy  assemble  at  this 
capital.  .  .  And  on  the  contrary  the  great  Coweta  town  ...  is 
called  the  bloody  town,  where  the  Micos,  chiefs,  and  warriors  assemble 
when  a  general  war  is  proposed;  and  here  captives  and  state  male- 
factors are  put  to  death."     (Bartram,  W.,  (2),  p.  387.) 

At  this  time  the  town  had  already  become  less  important  than  in 
earlier  days,  and  Bartram  ' '  viewed  the  mounds  or  terraces,  on  wliich 
formerly  stood  their  town  house  or  rotunda  and  square  or  areo- 
pagus,"  while  near  by  was  an  ''extensive  oblong  square  yard  or 
artificial  level  plain,"  evidently  the  ancient  chunky  yard.  Bartram 
places  this  town  12  miles  below  Coweta  but  Hawkins  ((1),  p.  64) 
shows  it  to  have  been  at  least  22  miles  below  the  falls. 

A  log  house,  as  constructed  by  the  Creeks  toward  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  is  showai  in  plate  13.  Tliis  is  after  Schoolcraft, 
who  referred  to  it  as  ''Tlie  Creek  house  in  its  best  state  of  native 
improvement  in  1790."  The  origmal  drawing  was  made  by  J.  C. 
Tidball,  V.  S.  A.     (Schoolcraft  (1),  V,  p.  394.) 

Homes  among  the  Creeks  did  not  always  consist  of  a  single  house  but 
usually  of  a  group  of  four  structures,  and  this  was  clearly  described 
by  Bartram  when  speaking  of  the  chief  of  "the  town  of  the  Apala- 
chians, "  that  is,  the  Hitchiti  town  of  Apalachicola,  previously  men- 
tioned.    Bartram  wrote: 

"His  villa  was  beautifully  situated  and  well  constructed.  It  was 
composed  of  tlu-ee  oblong  uniform  frame  buildings,  and  a  fourth, 
four-square,  fronting  the  principal  house  or  common  hall,  after  this 
manner,  encompassing  one  area.  The  hall  was  his  lodging  house, 
large  and  commodious;  the  two  wings  were,  one  a  cook-house,  the 
other  a  skin  or  ware-house;  and  the  large  square  one  was  a  vast 
open  pavilion,  supporting  a  canopy  of  cedar  roof  by  two  rows  of 
columns  or  pillars,  one  within  the  other.  Between  each  range  of 
pillars  was  a  platform,  or  what  the  traders  call  cabins,  a  sort  of  sofa 
raised  about  two  feet  above  the  common  ground,  and  ascended  by 
two  steps;  this  was  covered  with  checkered  mats  of  curious  manu- 
facture, woven  of  splints  of  canes  dyed  of  different  colors;  the  middle 
was  a  four-square  stage  or  platform,  raised  nine  inches  or  a  foot 
higher  than  the  cabins  or  sofas,  and  also  covered  with  mats.  In 
this  delightful  airy  place  we  were  received."  (Bartram,  W.,  (l),pp. 
37-38.) 

The  plan  accompanying  this  account  is  reproduced  in  figure  8. 
This  "villa"  was  probably  far  more  elaborate  than  the  majority  of 


NATI^^   VILLAGES   AND  VILLAGE   SITES 


79 


Creek  homes,  but  in  general  arrangement  it  was  evidently  quite 
similar  to  many  others.  Whether  the  custom  was  very  ancient  may 
never  be  kno^^^l,  and  to  what  extent  it  prevailed  among  the  Lower 
Creek  to\vns  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  it  was  the  regular  custom 
at  Kulumi,  a  town  of  the  Upper  Creeks  which  formerly  stood  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Tallapoosa,  in  Montgomery  County,  Alabama,  and 
undoubtedly  the  structures  in  the  many  neighboring  villages  were 
similarly  placed.  Kulumi,  the  Coolome  of  Bartram's  narrative, 
stood  on  the  bank  of  the  Tallapoosa.  The  "new  town,"  the  build- 
ing of  which  had  very  lately  been  completed,  stood  on  the  west  side 
of  the  stream,  wliile  on  the  opposite  side  were  the  old  fields  and  a  few 
Indian   habitations    marking  pM^^a^a* 

e 


the  position  of  "old  Coolome 
town. ' '  Regarding  the  build- 
ings of  the  "new  to^vn,"  it 
was  said: 

' '  Their  houses  are  neat  com- 
modious buildings,  a  wooden 
frame  with  plaistered  walls, 
and  roofed  with  Cypress  bark 
or  shingles;  every  habitation 
consists  of  four  oblong  square 


Fig.  8.— Home  of  the  chief  at  Apalachicola. 

houses,  of  one  story,  of  the  same  form  and  dimensions,  and  so  situated 
as  to  form  an  exact  square,  encompassing  an  area  or  court  yard  of 
about  a  quarter  of  an  acre  of  ground,  leaving  an  entrance  into  it  at 
each  corner.  Here  is  a  beautiful  new  square  or  areopagus,  in  the 
centre  of  the  new  town."      (Bartram,  W.,  (2),  p.  395.) 

Leaving  Kulumi,  he  continued  up  the  river  to  Atasi,  wliich  stood  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  stream  m  the  present  Macon  County,  Alabama. 
The  evening  of  his  arrival,  together  with  many  traders,  he  went 
to  the  "great  rotunda"  and  here  were  assembled  "the  greatest 
number  of  ancient  venerable  cliiefs  and  warriors"  he  had  ever  seen 
together.  There  they  remained  the  greater  part  of  the  night, 
drmking  cassine  and  smoking  tobacco.  The  rotunda  was  "a  Vast 
conical  building  or  circular  dome,  capable  of  accommodating  many 
hmidred  people."  It  was  constructed  and  furnished  within  as  were 
similar  structures  among  the  Cherokee,  but  much  larger  than  any  he 
had  seen  among  the  latter  tribe.  There  were  "people  appomted  to 
take  care  of  it,  to  have  it  daily  swept  clean,  and  to  provide  canes  for 
fuel,  or  to  give  light."      (Bartram,  W.,  (2),  p.  449.) 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  Tallapoosa,  a  short  distance  above 
Kulumi,  was  the  ancient  town  of  Tukabatclii,  occupying  a  level  valley 
about  2\  miles  below  the  falls.  Hawkuis  stopped  here  on  December 
16,  1796,  and  entered  in  his  journal:  "I  this  day  paid  a  visit  to  the 


80  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

old  men  at  the  town  house  and  partook  with  them  of  the  black  drmk. 
I  then  visited  the  falls  and  lands  adjoining  to  the  town.  The  falls 
are  at  2^  miles  above  the  town  house."  (Hawkins,  B.,  (2),  p.  37.) 
It  was  at  Tukabatchi  that  Tecumseh,  in  1811,  met  the  chiefs  of  the 
Upper  Creeks  and  endeavored  to  persuade  them  to  join  in  the  pro- 
posed war  against  the  Americans.  When  he  realized  that  he  had  not 
succeeded  in  his  designs  he  is  said  to  have  remarked:  "I  leave 
Tuckhabatchee  directly,  and  shall  go  straight  to  Detroit;  when  I 
arrive  there,  I  will  stamp  on  the  ground  with  my  foot,  and  shake  down 
every  house  in  Tuckhabatchee."  (Drake,  (1),  p.  144.)  Tliis  caused 
fear  and  consternation  among  the  people  of  the  nation,  and  it 
is  remarkable  that  later  in  the  year  occurred  the  great  earthquake 
m  the  central  portion  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  it  is  evident  the 
shocks  were  felt  as  far  as  Tukabatclii,  where  the  houses  were  shaken 
dowTi.  To  the  Indian  mind  there  was  a  direct  connection  between  the 
threat  made  by  Tecumseh  and  the  natural  phenomenon. 

The  custom  of  whitewashing  the  various  structures  was  evidently 
quite  general  among  the  southern  Indians,  and  several  materials  were 
used,  including  decayed  shells,  white  clay,  and  in  later  days  lime 
was  prepared  by  burning  oyster  and  clam  shells.  To  what  extent  the 
houses  were  otherwise  decorated  is  not  knowTi,  although  it  was  done 
among  the  Creeks  and  probably  followed  to  some  degree  by  the  other 
tribes  of  the  region.  Bartram,  when  replying  to  a  question  respecting 
this  phase  of  art  among  the  Indians,  wrote: 

"The  paintings  which  I  observed  among  the  Creeks  were  com- 
monly on  the  clay-plastered  walls  of  their  houses,  particularly  on 
the  walls  of  the  houses  comprising  the  Public  Square  .  .  .  The  walls 
are  plastered  very  smooth  with  red  clay,  then  the  figures  or  symbols 
are  drawn  with  white  clay,  paste,  or  chalk;  and  if  the  walls  are 
plastered  with  clay  of  a  wliitish  or  stone  color,  then  the  figures  are 
drawai  with  red,  bro\vn,  or  bluish  chalk  or  paste."  (Bartram,  W., 
(1),  p.  18.)  The  drawings  represented  many  forms  of  animal  and 
plant  life. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  many  families  removed  from  the 
Lower  Creek  towns,  on  the  Flint  and  Chattahoochee  Rivers,  to 
Florida,  and  so  became  known  as  the  Seminole,  a  name  derived  from 
the.  Creek  word  meaning  "separatist"  or  "runaway."  Later  they 
were  joined  by  others  from  the  Upper  Creeks,  and  soon  established 
many  settlements,  first  in  the  northern  and  central  parts  of  the 
peninsula,  gradually  moving  southward  seeking  refuge  among  the 
vast  swamps  in  the  region  about  Lake  Okeechobee. 

The  town  of  Cuscowilla,  which,  in  the  year  1774,  stood  near  the 
shore  of  the  lake  of  that  name,  in  the  present  Alachua  County, 
Florida,  was  an  important  and  probably  typical  Seminole   village. 


BUSH  NELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  81 

Described  as  it  was  at  that  time  it  was  said  that  it  "contains  about 
tliirty  habitations,  each  of  wliich  consists  of  two  houses  nearly  the 
same  size,  about  thirty  feet  in  length,  twelve  feet  wide,  and  about 
the  same  in  height.  The  door  is  placed  midway  on  one  side  or  in  the 
front.  This  house  is  divided  equally,  across,  into  two  apartments, 
one  of  which  is  the  cook  room  and  common  hall,  and  the  other  the 
lodging  room.  The  other  house  is  nearly  of  the  same  dimensions, 
standing  about  twenty  yards  from  the  dwelling  house,  its  end  fronting 
the  door.  Tliis  building  is  two  stories  high,  and  constructed  in  a 
different  manner.  It  is  divided  transversely,  as  the  other,  but  the 
end  next  the  dwelling  house  is  open  on  three  sides,  supported  by  posts 
or  pillars.  It  has  an  open  loft  or  platform,  the  ascent  to  which  is  by 
a  portable  stair  or  ladder;  tliis  is  a  pleasant,  cool,  airy  situation,  and 
here  the  master  or  chief  of  the  family  retires  to  repose  in  the  hot 
seasons,  and  receives  his  guests  or  visitors.  The  other  half  of  this 
building  is  closed  on  all  sides  by  notched  logs;  the  lowest  or  ground 
part  is  a  potatoe  house,  and  the  upper  story  over  it  a  granary  for 
corn  and  other  provisions.  Their  houses  are  constructed  of  a  kind 
of  frame.  In  the  first  place,  strong  corner  pillars  are  fixed  in  the 
ground,  with  others  somewhat  less,  ranging  on  a  line  between; 
these  are  strengthened  by  cross  pieces  of  timber,  and  the  whole  with 
the  roof  is  covered  close  with  the  bark  of  the  Cypress  tree.  The 
dwelling  stands  near  the  middle  of  a  scjuare  yard,  encompassed  by  a 
low  bank,  formed  with  the  earth  taken  out  of  the  yard,  which  is 
always  carefully  swept."      (Bartram,  W.,   (2),  pp.  189-191.) 

Cuscowilla  became  the  principal  town  of  the  group  of  settlements 
whose  inhabitants  were  considered  as  forming  the  Alachua  tribe,  and 
who  were  very  active  in  the  Seminole  war  during  the  years  from 
1835  to  1842.  The  town  visited  by  Bartram  in  1774  was  then  known 
as  the  new  town,  and  the  name  CuscoAvilla  had  been  applied  to  it. 
"The  ancient  Alachua  on  the  borders  of  the  savanna"  had  been 
abandoned  by  reason  of  the  unhealthf ulness  of  the  locality.  The  new 
to^^^l  had  a  "public  square  or  council-house,"  where  the  chief  men 
gathered  to  conduct  important  business.  In  many  respects  the 
to-^vn  resembled  the  later  villages  of  the  Creeks,  but  the  buildings 
were  fewer  in  number,  and  some  had  been  combined  and  arranged  to 
serve  various  purposes. 

The  recent  Seminole  dwellings,  as  they  have  stood  among  the 
Everglades  of  southern  Florida  within  the  present  generation,  but 
which  undoubtedly  perpetuate  an  ancient  form  of  native  structure, 
differ  from  any  known  to  have  been  built  by  the  Creeks,  and  they  may 
have  been  derived  by  the  newcomers  from  some  remnants  of  the 
native  tribes,  gf  whom  so  little  is  knoAvn. 
108851°— 19 6 


82  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bulu  69 

A  typical  house  standing  in  the  Everglades  in  the  year  1880  (pi.  14, 
h),  measuring  about  16  feet  in  length  and  9  feet  in  width,  was  thus 
described  : 

*  'It  is  actually  but  a  platform  elevated  about  three  feet  from  the 
ground  and  covered  with  a  palmetto  thatched  roof,  the  roof  being 
not  more  than  12  feet  above  the  ground  at  the  ridge  pole  or  7  at  the 
eaves.  Eight  upright  palmetto  logs,  unsplit  and  undressed,  support 
the  roof.  Many  rafters  sustain  the  palmetto  thatching.  The  plat- 
form is  composed  of  split  palmetto  logs  lying  transversely,  flat  sides 
up,  upon  beams  which  extend  the  length  of  the  building  and  are 
lashed  to  the  uprights  by  palmetto  ropes,  thongs,  or  trader's  ropes. 
This  platform  is  peculiar,  in  that  it  fills  the  interior  of  the  building 
like  a  floor  and  serves  to  furnish  the  family  ^vith  a  dry  sitting  or  lying 
down  place  when,  as  often  happens,  the  whole  region  is  under  water. 
The  thatching  of  the  roof  is  quite  a  work  of  art:  inside,  the  regularity 
and  compactness  of  the  laying  of  the  leaves  display  much  skill  and 
taste  on  the  part  of  the  builder;  outside^with  the  outer  layers 
there  seems  to  have  been  less  care  taken  than  with  those  within — 
the  mass  of  leaves  of  which  the  roof  is  composed  is  held  in  place  and 
made  firm  by  heavy  logs,  which,  bound  together  in  pairs,  are  laid 
upon  it  astride  the  ridge."     (MacCauley,  (1),  p.  500.) 

The  structure  just  described,  open  on  all  sides  and  without  a 
partition,  was  one  of  three  similar  buildings,  which  stood  "at  three 
corners  of  an  oblong  clearing,"  about  40  by  30  feet  in  extent.  In  one 
of  the  three  houses  the  platform  was  only  half  the  size  of  the  others, 
the  ground  thus  left  uncovered  being  used  as  a  hearth,  although  in 
dry  weather,  when  it  was  not  necessary  to  remain  under  shelter, 
the  fire  was  usually  made  in  the  open  space  between,  or  rather 
surrounded  by  the  three  buildings. 

Like  the  great  majority  of  the  native  tribes  of  eastern  United 
States,  these,  living  at  the  farthest  point  southward,  had  a  custom 
of  erecting  a  temporary  lodge  or  shelter  when  away  from  their  perma- 
nent settlements.  These  evidently  differed  in  form.  Some  resem- 
bled "wall  tents  and  others  like  single-roofed  sheds,"  but  all  appear  to 
have  been  formed  of  a  framework  covered  with  palmetto.  A  sketch  of 
a  shelter  encountered  by  MacCauley  at  Horse  Creek  is  reproduced  in 
plate  14,  a.  A  raised  platform  near  the  lodge  served  as  a  place  for 
depositing  food,  utensils,  and  other  possessions  of  the  people. 

In  the  preceding  reference  to  the  placing  of  three  separate  buildings 
"at  three  corners  of  an  oblong  clearing,"  it  is  interesting  to  trace 
the  custom  of  the  Seminole  back  tlirough  several  generations  to  their 
old  homes  on  the  Chattahoochee.  Three  or  four  separate  structures 
were  there  grouped  about  a  small  open  space,  each  group  being  the 
home  of  a  family,  but  the  houses  were  of  a  more  substantial  nature 
and  furnished  far  more  protection  to  the  occupants,  nevertheless  the 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  •       83 

simple  covered  platforms  found  among  the  Everglades  were  well 
suited  to  the  climate  and  natural  environment  of  the  southern 
country. 

Muskhogean  tribes  extended  eastward  to  the  coast  and  unquestion- 
ably the  Quale,  of  Spanish  narratives,  were  of  this  stock.  Their 
home  was  among  the  low  islands  and  the  adjacent  mainland — the 
coast  of  the  present  State  of  Georgia.  Here  they  were  probably 
living  in  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  visited  by  the 
Spanish  explorers,  who  left  a  rather  vague  description  of  certain  large 
structures  seen  by  them. 

"There  are  some  principal  houses  along  that  coast  each  one  of 
which  must  have  been  intended  among  that  people  for  a  village, 
because  they  are  very  large  and  are  made  of  very  tall  and  very  grace- 
ful pines;  and  above  they  leave  their  limbs  and  leaves,  and  after  they 
leave  a  row  or  rank  of  pines  as  a  wall  and  another  at  the  other  end 
(i.  e.  side),  leaving  between  a  \vidth  of  fifteen  or  thirty  feet  from  one 
row  to  the  other,  and  a  length  of  perhaps  three  hundred  or  more  feet. 
The  limbs  join  above,  and  so  there  is  no  need  of  roof  or  covering, 
and  yet  they  cover  the  whole  upper  part  with  mats  very  well  placed, 
interwoven  in  the  openings  or  prospects  between  the  said  pines, 
and  within  there  are  other  pines  crosswise  to  the  surface  of  the  first, 
which  double  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  So  the  mud  wall  remains 
thick  and  strong,  because  the  timbers  are  near  together:  and  in  each 
of  these  said  houses  there  may  well  be  or  be  contained  two  hundred 
men,  and  live  in  them."  Other  structures  were  mentioned  having 
"walls  of  lime  and  stone  (which  lime  they  make  of  shells  of  sea 
oysters)  and  these  are  one  and  one-half  times  as  high  as  a  person,  and 
the  rest  of  that  height  one  and  one-half  times  that  of  a  person  is  of 
pine  timbers,  of  which  there  are  many."    (Oviedo,  (1),  III,  pp.  630-631.) 

These  were  evidently  long,  narrow  structures,  erected  among  the 
pines,  which  served  as  natural  supports.  The  dimensions  given  may 
not  be  correct,  nevertheless  such  extensive  houses  could  have  been 
reared  by  the  native  tribes  and  would  not  have  differed  greatly  in 
size  from  the  longest  of  the  communal  dwellings  seen  in  early  days 
among  the  Five  Xations.  The  walls  were  constructed  of  wattle 
covered  with  clay  which  was  applied  in  a  plastic  state  and  allowed  to 
dry  and  harden.  The  branches  of  the  bordering  pines  served  as  a 
nf.tural  roof  or  covering,  but  this  was  evidently  augmented  by 
"mats,"  probably  a  thatch  laid  over  a  light  framework.  TMiether 
this  was  in  reality  a  great  communal  dwelling,  as  among  the  Iroquois, 
or  served  the  purpose  of  the  large,  circular  town  house  of  later  genera- 
tions, may  never  be  known,  but  in  later  years  the  latter  form  was 
encountered  among  the  Guale,  in  their  village  along  the  coast  north- 
ward from  St.  Aug-ustine. 


84 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


[bull.  69 


On  September  29,  1699,  Jonathan  Dickenson,  a  member  of  a  party 
whose  vessel  had  been  cast  ashore  far  down  the  coast  o-f  Florida 
several  months  before,  left  St.  Augustine  and  soon  reached  the 
Indian  village  of  Santa  Cruz.  Here,  so  he  wrote,  "we  were  directed 
to  the  Indian  warehouse  [fig.  9.1.  It  was  built  round,  having  16 
squares  and  on  each  square  a  cabin  built  and  painted,  which  woiJd 
hold  two  people,  the  house  being  about  50  feet  diameter;  and  in  the 
middle  of  the  top  was  a  square  opening  about  15  feet.  This  house 
was  very  clean;  and  fires  being  ready  made  near  our  cabin,  the 
Spanish  captain  made  choice  of  cabins  for  him  and  his  soldiers  and 
appointed  us  our  cabins.     In  this  town  they  have  a  Friar  and  a  large 


Fig.  9. — Plan  of  the  interior  of  the  "  Indian  warehouse"  at  Santa  Cruz, 
drawn  from  Dickenson's  description.  The  square  represents  the  opening 
in  the  roof. 

house  to  worship  in,  with  three  beUs;  and  the  Indians  go  as  con- 
stantly to  their  devotions  at  all  times  and  seasons,  as  any  of  the 
Spaniards.  Kight  being  come  and  the  time  of  their  devotion  over, 
the  Friar  came  in,  and  many  of  the  Indians,  both  men  and  women, 
and  they  had  a  dance  according  to  their  way  and  custom.  We  had 
plenty  of  Casseena  drink,  and  such  victuals  as  the  Indians  had  pro- 
vided for  us,  some  bringing  corn  boiled,  others  pease;  some  one  thing, 
some  another;  of  all  which  we  made  a  good  supper,  and  slept  till 
morning." 

Continuing  northward,   the   town  of  St.  Marys,   on  the  extreme 
southeastern  point  of  Georgia,  was  reached  October  2,  1699.     And 


bdsiinell] 


NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES 


85 


here  "we  were  conducted  to  the  ware  house  [fig.  10],  as  the  custom  is, 
every  town  having  one:  we  understood  these  houses  were  either  for 
their  times  of  mirth  and  dancing,  or  to  lodge  and  entertain  strangers. 
The  house  was  ahout  31  feet  diameter,  built  round,  with  32  squares; 
in  each  square  a  cabin  about  8  feet  long,  of  a  good  height,  painted 
and  well  matted.  The  center  of  the  building  is  a  quadrangle  of 
twenty  feet,  being  open  at  the  top,  against  which  the  house  is  built. 
In  this  quadrangle  is  the  place  they  dance,  having  a  great  fire  in  the 
middle.  In  one  of  the  squares  is  the  gate  way  or  passage  .  .  .  Tliis 
was  the  largest  town  of  all,  and  about  a  mile  from  it  was  another  called 
St.  Pliilip's."     (Dickenson,  (1),  pp.  90-93.) 


Fig.  10.— Plan  of  the  "  warehouse  "  at  St.  Marys,  October  2, 1699,  as  suggested  by 
Dickenson's  description.    The  square  shows  opening  in  the  roof. 

The  narrative  continues:  "We  understood  that  the  Carolina 
Indians,  called  the  Yammasees,  which  are  related  to  these  Indians, 
were  here  about  a  month  before,  trading  for  skins."  The  Yamasi 
were  at  that  time  living  (p.  105)  "about  two  or  tliree  days'  rowing 
from  Charleston,"  southward. 

These  large  circular  structures  at  once  suggest  the  "rotimdas"  of 
the  Creeks,  and  the  town  houses  that  existed  among  the  Chickasaw  and 
Cherokee.  However,  they  were  probably  of  lighter  construction  and 
had  a  much  larger  opening  in  the  center  of  the  roof  or  covering.  The 
house  at  Santa  Cruz  was  described  as  being  50  feet  in  diameter  and 
having  the  circular  wall  divided  into  16  sections,  or  "squares,"  each 
of  which  was  occupied  by  a  "cabin,"  the  latter  meaning  berth  or 


86  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [boll.  69 

sleeping  place.  The  "cabins"  were  probably  separated  from  one 
another  by  mat  partitions,  with  other  mats  covering  the  ground. 
Assuming  the  diameter  to  have  been  correctly  given,  each  of  the  16 
divisions  would  have  been  9  or  10  feet  in  length  against  the  wall. 
The  similar  structure  at  St.  Marys  was  evidently  much  larger,  the 
wall  space  being  divided  into  32  sections,  one  of  which  served  as  the 
entrance  while  each  of  the  others,  31  in  number,  contained  a  'Vabin" 
or  berth  about  8  feet  in  length.  The  diameter  of  this  house  was 
given  as  31  feet,  but  this  was  evidently  an  error  and  should  have  read 
81.  A  house  of  this  size  and  form  could  readily  have  been  built  by 
the  native  tribes,  as  a  structure  80  feet  or  more  in  diameter,  with  an 
open  space  some  20  feet  square  in  the  center  of  the  covering,  would 
have  reduced  the  maximum  expanse  of  the  roof  to  about  30  feet.  A 
roof  of  these  dimensions  and  having  several  supports  could  easily 
have  been  constructed  in  a  locality  where  long,  slender  pines  were 
plentiful. 

About  20  years  ago  the  remains  of  an  ancient  structure  were  dis- 
covered in  a  shell  mound  standing  on  Little  Island,  on  the  left,  or 
north,  side  of  Broad  River,  about  20  miles  from  the  ocean,  in  Beaufort 
County,  South  Carolina.  This  would  have  been  within  the  limits  of 
the  country  occupied  by  the  Yamasi  at  the  time  of  Dickenson's  nar- 
rative. The  mound  was  elliptical  in  outline  and  measured  about  150 
feet  from  north  to  south  and  100  feet  from  east  to  west.  Its  height 
was  14  feet.  The  remains  of  the  structure  were  encountered  in  the 
north  half  of  the  mound.  They  were  of  a  building  having  four  walls 
with  rounded  corners,  the  entrance  being  at  the  southeast  corner. 
A  plan  of  the  house  is  reproduced  in  figure  11.  It  averaged  about  41 
feet  from  east  to  west  and  36  feet  from  north  to  south,  being  rather 
irregular.  The  walls  were  about  4  feet  3  inches  in  height,  and  had 
a  maximum  thickness  near  the  top  of  5  inches.  Tlie  walls  had  been 
made  of  wattlework  covered  with  clay,  and  although  the  wood  had 
long  ago  rotted  away  the  impressions  of  the  posts  and  connecting 
pieces  remained. 

"The  uprights  varied  in  diameter  from  3|  to  6  in.  and  projected 
6  to  8  in.  above  the  top  of  the  wall.  Some  left  molds  in  the  clayey 
sand  above  the  shell,  indicating  considerable  enlargement  around  the 
top.  .  .  The  uprights,  which  were  from  14  to  19  in.  apart,  w^ere 
held  together  by  twelve  parallel  chcular  cross-pieces,  probably  vines, 
each  about  3/10  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  surmounted  by  a  circular 
stringer  about  1  in.  in  diameter,  over  which  the  clay  had  been  turned 
and  rounded.  At  places  marks  in  the  clay  plainly  showed  where  the 
cross-pieces  and  the  stringer  had  been  attached  to  the  uprights,  prob- 
ably by  vines,  ...  At  irregular  distances,  usually  but  not  always 
between  consecutive  uprights,  on  the  top  of  the  wall,  were  semi- 
circular depressions  from  2  to  4  in.  in  diameter,  which  had  undoubt- 


NATIVE   VILLAGES    AND   VILLAGE    SITES 


87 


edly  held  ends  of  poles  serving  as  rafters.  .  .  .  There  were  present 
in  the  floor  of  the  structure  numerous  circular  holes  representing 
ends  of  former  supports,  some  of  which  probably  upheld  the  roof." 
Near  the  center  of  the  floor  was  a  large  firebed,  six  feet  in  diameter; 
east  of  it  was  a  mass  of  clay  "like  a  seat,  circular  with  rounded  top, 
9  in.  in  height  and  1  ft.  4  in.  in  diameter."  The  skeleton  of  a  child 
was  found  fourteen  inches  below  the  floor,  a  short  distance  southeast 
of  the  central  fireplace.     Evidently  the  shell  and  clay  mound  had 


'i,riFit  PLACE 


BUHIAL 


o 


e^  TRANCE 


J 


Fig.  11.— Plan  of4  n  ancient  structure  in  Beaufort  County,  South  Carolina. 


been  intentionally  raised  over  the  ancient  house.  (Moore,  (1),  pp. 
152-162.) 

Few  objects  were  discovered  in  the  mound,  or  associated  with  the 
ruin,  and  nothing  of  European  origin  was  encountered,  therefore  there 
is  no  way  to  approximate  the  age  of  the  ancient  structure,  which  may, 
however,  belong  to  the  period  of  the  long  house  of  Oviedo,  and  they 
may  not  have  been  many  miles  apart.  Ruins  of  other  structures 
may  be  covered  by  some  of  the  many  shell  mounds  scattered  along 
the  coast,  to  be  revealed  at  some  future  time. 

The  tribe  or  tribes  of  southern  Florida,  whose  identification  and 
connection  linguistically  with  other  tribes  has  not  been  determined, 


OO  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

but  who  may  have  been  Muskhogean,  occupied  the  coast  in  the  year 
1699,  and  their  villages  were  encountered  by  Dickenson  and  his  ill- 
fated  party  as  they  moved  northward  to  St.  Augustine,  during  the 
late  summer  and  autumn  of  that  year.  (Dickenson,  (1).)  Tlie 
references  to  the  native  habitations  which  are  found  in  the  narrative 
of  the  shipwreck  are  all  too  brief,  but  they  are  of  the  greatest  interest. 
On  July  25,  1699,  the  party  reached  a  native  village  which  evidently 
stood  on  the  north  side  of  Jupiter  Inlet,  and  this  was  described  (p. 
17)  as  being  composed  of — 

''little  wigwams  made  of  small  poles  stuck  in  the  ground,  which  they 
bent  one  to  another,  making  an  arch,  and  covering  them  with  thatch 
of  small  Palmetto  leaves.  .  .  .  We  were  directed  to  a  wigwam,  which 
afterwards  we  understood  to  be  the  Cassekey's  (cacique) ;  it  was  about 
a  man's  height  to  the  top,  and  herein  was  the  Cassekey's  wife  and 
some  old  women,  sitting  on  a  cabin  made  with  sticks,  about  a  foot 
high,  covered  with  a  mat;  and  they  made  signs  for  us  to  sit  down  on 
the  ground  which  we  did."  As  previously  mentioned  the  term 
''cabin,"  as  used  in  this  narrative,  referred  to  a  small  space  within  the 
house  which  was  probably  partitioned  off  by  mats.  In  this  instance 
it  was  occupied  by  a  raised  platform  and  covered  with  a  mat,  serving 
as  a  sleeping  place  at  night.  Five  days  later,  July  30,  1699,  Dicken- 
son had  advanced  as  far  as  the  north  side  of  Indian  River  Inlet,  where 
they  discovered  an  Indian  settlement.  The  house  of  the  chief  was 
about  forty  feet  in  length  and  twenty-five  feet  in  width,  formed  of  a 
framework  and  covered  on  sides  and  top  with  palmetto  leaves. 
"There  was  a  range  of  cabins  on  one  side  and  two  ends;  at  the 
entering  on  one  side  of  the  house,  a  passage  was  made  of  benches  on 
each  side  leading  to  the  cabins ;  on  these  benches  sat  the  chief  Indians, 
and  at  the  upper  end  of  the  cabin  was  the  Cassekey  seated.  .  .  .  The 
Indians  were  seated  as  aforesaid,  the  Cassekey  at  the  upper  end  of 
them,  and  the  range  of  cabins  was  filled  with  men,  women  and 
children,  beholding  us.  .  .  .  In  one  part  of  this  house,  where  a  fire 
was  kept,  was  an  Indian  man,  having  a  pot  on  the  fire  wherein  he  was 
making  a  drink  of  a  shrub,  which  we  understood  afterwards  by  the 
Spanish  is  called  Casseena.  .  .  .  The  drink  when  made  cool  to  sup, 
was  in  a  shell  first  carried  to  the  Cassekey"  (p.  33). 

They  next  arrived  at  the  village  of  Jece,  some  10  or  more  miles 
north  of  the  inlet  and  about  one-haK  mile  from  the  shore,  surrounded 
by  a  swamp  (pp.  45-46).  Here,  durmg  the  night  of  August  4,  1699, 
occurred  a  violent  storm.  The  wind  blew  from  the  northeast  and 
rain  feU  in  torrents.  "The  king's  house  was  knee  deep  with  water 
and  like  to  continue  rising;  I  removed  with  my  wife,  child,  Robert 
Barrow,  and  Benjamin  Allen  to  an  Indian  house  that  stood  on  a  hill 
of  oyster  shells,  and  in  this  house  we  remained  the  whole  day." 
The  wind  blew  steadily  from  the  northeast  and  the  waters  flooded 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE  SITES  89 

the  lowlands  and  that  night  continued  to  rise  until  it  reached  the 
house,  which  soon  "was  afloat."  The  storm  raged  the  following 
day  and  ''the  houses  were  almost  blown  to  pieces  and  the  Indians 
were  often  tying  and  mending  them,"  Interesting  indeed  is  this 
reference  to  "a  hill  of  oyster  shells,"  which  may  have  indicated  the 
position  of  an  even  more  ancient  settlement,  but  it  was  not  sur- 
mounted by  the  house  of  the  chief  of  the  village  or  by  any  structure 
resembling  a  "town  house,"  or  a  "temple,"  as  would  have  been  the 
custom  among  the  majority  of  southern  tribes.  Here  the  chief's 
dwelling  stood  on  low  ground,  easily  reached  by  the  flood. 

Surviving  this  midsummer  storm,  the  party  resumed  their  journey 
northward  and  a  few  days  later  they  reached  a  locality  which  appears 
to  have  been  a  short  distance  beyond  Mosquito  Inlet,  probably  on  the 
mainland  not  far  from  the  present  village  of  Ormond,  Volusia  County. 
Going  ashore  (pp.  70-71),  they  found  the  "place  was  an  old  Indian 
field  on  a  high  bleak  hill,  where  had  been  a  large  Indian  house,  but  it 
was  tumbled  down."  This  had  probably  been  the  site  of  a  Timucuan 
town,  and  villages  said  to  have  been  standing  not  far  away  may  have 
been  occupied  by  remnants  of  this  people.     (PI.  15,  a,  h.) 

Wlien  the  Timucuan  tribes  became  known  to  Europeans,  through 
the  discoveries  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  who  landed  near  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  St.  Augustine  in  the  year  1513,  they  occupied  many 
villages  scattered  across  the  northern  part  of  the  peninsula  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Gulf.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  they  extended  northward 
to  Cumberland  Island,  on  the  present  Georgia  coast,  and  conse- 
quently claimed  both  banks  of  the  St.  Marys.  Much  information 
respecting  the  manners  and  customs  of  these  people  has  been  derived 
from  the  notes  and  drawings  prepared  by  Le  Moyne.  (Le  Moyne, 
(1).)  Two  of  the  latter  are  reproduced  in  plate  16,  being  copied  from 
the  engravings  as  presented  in  part  2  of  De  Bry's  great  collection  of 
voyages  in  1591.  Plate  16,  a,  appeared  as  plate  22  in  Le  Moyne's 
narrative  and  there  bore  the  legend:  "There  are  in  that  region  a 
great  many  islands,  producing  abundance  of  various  kinds  of  fruits, 
which  they  gather  twice  a  year  and  carry  home  in  canoes  and  store 
up  in  roomy  low  granaries  built  of  stone  and  earth  and  roofed  tliickly 
with  palm  branches  and  a  kind  of  soft  earth  fit  for  the  purpose." 
Evidently  the  illustration  shows  one  of  the  "granaries,"  but  how  true 
either  the  drawing  or  legend  may  be  remains  a  question  not  easily 
determined.  The  materials  of  which  this  structure  was  said  to  have 
been  formed  at  once  recall  the  rather  vague  reference  in  Oviedo  to 
houses  having  "walls  of  lime  and  stone,"  encountered  within  this 
region  a  generation  earlier.  The  walls  in  both  instances  may  have 
been  formed  of  fragmentary  pieces  of  coquina,  easily  secured  at  cer- 
tain places  along  the  coast,  and  which  might  readily  have  been  con- 
sidered by  the  early  writers  to  have  been  artificially  prepared.     The 


90  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

roof  was  undoubtedly  thatched  with  palmetto,  which  was  exten- 
sively used  for  this  purpose  wherever  it  was  obtainable. 

A  palisaded  town  is  shown  in  plate  16,  I,  a  reproduction  of  Le 
Moyne's  plate  30.  A  part  of  the  descriptive  text  accompanying 
the  illustration  reads : 

"The  chief's  dwelling  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  town  and  is 
partly  imderground  in  consequence  of  the  sun's  heat.  Aroimd  this 
are  the  houses  of  the  principal  men,  all  lightly  roofed  with  palm 
branches,  as  they  are  occupied  only  nine  months  in  the  year,  the 
other  tlu-ee  .  .  .  being  spent  in  the  woods.  When  they  come  back, 
they  occupy  their  houses  again;  and  if  they  find  the  enemy  has  burnt 
them  down,  they  build  others  of  similar  materials." 

It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  preceding  statements  with  a  con- 
temporary description  of  the  dwellings  of  the  same  people,  but  it 
is  possible  that  " the  cliief's  dwelling"  of  Le  Moyne's  account  and 
the  large  structure  in  the  following  narrative  of  Hawkins's  voyage 
referred  to  great  houses  similar  to  the  "warehouses"  mentioned  by 
Dickenson  as  standmg  in  the  country  of  the  Guale  on  the  same 
coast  in  the  year  1699.  Early  in  the  year  1565  the  Enghsh  reached 
the  coast  of  Florida  and  soon  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  of 
May,  the  present  St.  Johns,  and  near  by  discovered  a  native  village, 
thus  briefly  described  in  the  narrative: 

"Their  houses  are  not  many  together,  for  in  one  house  an  hundred 
of  them  do  lodge;  they  being  made  much  like  a  great  barne,  and  in 
strength  not  inferiour  to  ours,  for  they  have  stanchions  and  rafters 
of  whole  trees,  and  are  covered  with  palmito-leaves,  having  no  place 
divided,  but  one  small  roome  for  their  king  and  queene.  In  the 
middest  of  this  house  is  a  hearth,  where  they  make  great  fires  all 
night,  and  they  sleepe  upon  certaine  pieces  of  wood  hewen  in  for  the 
bowing  of  their  backs,  and  another  place  made  high  for  their  heads, 
which  they  put  one  by  another  aU  along  the  waUes  on  both  sides." 
(Hawkins,  J.,  (1),  pp.  516-517.) 

Unfortunately  the  form  of  the  structure  was'  not  mentioned,  but 
it  was  probably  round,  with  one  entrance  and  a  large  opening  in  the 
center  of  the  roof.  The  small  space  partitioned  off  for  the  use  of  the 
chief  was  probably  as  described,  although  difi^erent  from  any  custom 
prevailing  among  the  Muskhogean  tribes.  Likewise  the  wooden 
head  rests,  and  larger  rests  for  the  back,  were  not  found  among  the 
tribes  to  the  northward  but  suggest  a  southern  culture. 

On  the  Gulf  coast  of  Florida,  extending  northward  from  the 
vicinity  of  Tampa  Bay  to  the  Ocilla  River,  were  other  Timucuan 
tribes.  One  of  their  villages,  Ucita  by  name,  stood  on  the  shores 
of  the  bay,  and  near  it,  on  Friday,  May  30,  1539,  landed  the  Spanish 
forces  under  the  command  of  Don  Ferdinando  de  Soto.     The  town 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  91 

was  briefly  described,  the  following  account  being  quoted  from  the 
narrative  of  the  expedition  "written  by  a  Gentleman  of  Elvas:" 

''Tliey  came  to  the  towne  of  Ucita,  where  the  Governour  was,  on 
Simday  the  fii"st  of  June,  being  Trinitie  Sunday.  The  towne  was  of 
seven  or  eight  houses.  The  lordes  house  stoode  neere  the  shore, 
upon  a  very  hie  mount,  made  by  hand  for  strength.  At  another  end 
of  the  townie  stood  the  church,  and  on  the  top  of  it  stood  a  fowle 
made  of  wood,  with  gilded  eies.  Here  were  found  some  pearles  of 
small  valew,  spoiled  with  the  fire,  which  the  Indians  do  pierce  and 
string  them  like  beades,  and  weare  them  about  their  neckes  and 
handwrists,  and  they  esteeme  them  very  much.  The  houses  were 
made  of  timber,  and  covered  with  palme  leaves."  (Elvas,  (1),  pp. 
25-26.) 

In  this  translation  the  word  "temple"  should  be  substituted  for 
"church."  Two  structures  different  from  the  ordinary  habitations 
stood  in  this  ancient  village:  one  the  temple,  the  other  described 
as  "the  lordes  house,"  the  chief's  dwelling,  or  it  may  have  resembled 
the  tovm.  house,  or  rotunda,  of  the  more  northerly  tribes.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  were  five  or  six  simple  dweUings.  This  may  have  been  a 
typical  village  of  the  time  and  region,  and  the  most  interesting  refer- 
ence to  the  erection  of  the  chief's  dweUmg  on  the  summit  of  an  arti- 
ficial mound,  erected  for  the  purpose,  suggests  the  probable  origin 
and  use  of  other  mounds  standing  along  the  coast. 

Southward  from  Tampa  Bay  lived  the  Calusa,  of  whom  very  little 
is  known.  The  tribe,  or  tribes,  mentioned  under  this  name  in  the 
early  Spanish  and  French  records  probably  occupied  or  dominated 
the  lower  half  of  the  peninsula,  reaching  from  the  southern  keys  to 
the  boundary  of  the  territory  of  the  Timucuan  tribes.  As  nothing 
is  now  kno\\Ti  of  the  language  of  the  Calusa  it  is  not  possible  to  trace 
their  connection,  if  any  existed,  with  the  neighboring  villages.  They 
are  described  by  the  old  writers  as  a  brave  and  warlike  people,  and 
as  they  are  said  to  have  had  nearly  fifty  settlements  about  the  year 
1567  they  must  have  been  comparatively  numerous.  Many  of  their 
towns  were  probably  near  the  coast,  where,  among  the  marshes  and 
shallow  inlets,  on  the  mainland  though  often  on  the  low  keys,  were 
great  mounds  of  sand  and  shells  which  served  as  elevated  sites  for 
their  habitations  and  other  structures.  These  were  often  connected 
by  extensive  artificial  canals  or  lagoons,  and  were  surrounded  by  the 
luxuriant  semitropical  vegetation  of  the  region,  by  which  they  are 
now  covered  and  hidden  from  view.  WhUe  many  of  these  elevations 
may  be  considered  accidental  shell  heaps,  either  cast  up  by  the  sea 
or  resulting  from  the  gathering  of  moUusks  for  food,  others  were 
intentionally  raised  as  elevated  sites,  as  was  the  mound  at  Ucita. 
Some  of  the  mounds,  artificial  or  natural,  served  as  places  of  burial, 
but  do  not  appear  to  have  been  erected  for  that  purpose. 


92  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bdll.  69 

About  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Calusa  are 
knowTi  to  have  maintained  regular  intercourse  with  Cuba,  passing  to 
and  fro  in  their  canoes.  Such  intercommunication  may  have  been 
even  more  extensive  in  earlier  times. 

Three  stocks  remain  to  be  considered — Siouan,  Uchean,  and 
Tunican — widely  separated  and  not  extensive. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  some  generations  before  the  French  entered 
the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio,  and  discovered  the  rich  lands 
lying  westward  from  the  AUeghenies,  Siouan  tribes  had  occupied  the 
region  about  the  headwaters  of  the  latter  stream,  whence  they  had 
removed  westward,  reached  the  Mississippi,  and  there  scattered. 
But  all  the  tribes  of  this  stock  then  living  in  the  east  did  not  join  in 
the  movement,  and  at  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  Virginia,  and  for 
manj^  years  later,  tribes  belonging  to  this  linguistic  family  occupied 
the  piedmont  country,  between  the  Algonquian  territory  on  the  east 
and  the  AUeghenies  on  the  west,  and  may  even  have  continued  into 
the  mountain  valleys.  In  Virginia  were  the  several  tribes  which 
formed  the  Monacan  confederacy,  and  the  better  known  Saponi 
and  Tutelo,  whose  villages  about  the  year  1675  were  near  the  southern 
boundary  of  Virginia,  in  the  valley  of  the  Roanoke.  Other  related 
tribes  occupied  the  country  southward  probably  to  and  beyond  the 
Santee,  in  central  South  Carolina.  For  many  years  after  the  coming 
of  the  English  colonists  there  must  necessarily  have  been  some  inter- 
course between  them  and  the  various  tribes  in  question,  but  unfortu- 
nately few  accounts  have  been  preserved  of  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  native  people,  and  little  is  known  of  the  appearance  of  their 
many  towns  and  camps.  Practically  all  of  the  available  information 
relating  to  the  habits  of  the  ''Siouan  tribes  of  the  East"  has  been 
collected  and  presented  in  a  single,  small  volume.     (Mooney  (1).) 

The  "town  house"  of  the  southern  tribes  found  its  counterpart 
among  the  eastern  Siouan,  although  they  may  have  been  of  somewhat 
lighter  construction.  But  whether  such  structures  w^ere  erected  by 
the  neighbors  of  the  Monacan  northward  is  not  known.  However, 
if  a  statement  by  Lawson  is  to  be  accepted  literally  they  were  not 
found  north  of  the  Saponi. 

On  December  28,  1700,  John  Lawson,  surveyor  general  of  Carolina, 
started  from  Charleston  on  a  journey  through  the  Indian  country. 
The  account  of  his  experiences  was  later  printed  in  his  History  of 
Carolina,  a  volume  filled  with  information  pertaining  to  the  customs 
of  the  native  tribes  of  the  region  through  which  he  passed.  Early  in 
the  year  1701  his  party,  consisting  of  several  Englishmen  and  Indian 
guides,  arrived  at  the  village  of  the  Waxsaw,  probably  on  the  bank 
of  Waxsaw  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Catawba,  in  the  country  now 
embraced  within  the  present  Lancaster  County,  South  Carolina,  and 
Union  and  Mecklenburg  Counties,  North  Carolina.     Here  the  English 


BUSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  93 

witnessed  a  native  ceremony  ''held  in  commemoration  of  the  Plenti- 
ful Harvest  of  Corn  they  had  reaped  the  Summer  before.  .  .  .  These 
revels  were  carried  on  in  a  flouse  made  for  that  purpose,  it  being 
done  round,  with  white  benches  of  fine  Canes  joining  along  the  wall; 
and  a  place  for  the  door  being  left,  which  is  so  low,  that  a  man  must 
stoop  very  much  to  enter  therein.  This  Edifice  resembles  a  large 
Hay  Kick;  its  top  being  pyramidal,  and  much  bigger  than  their 
other  Dwellings,  and  at  the  building  whereof  every  one  assists  until 
it  is  finished.  All  their  Dwelling  houses  are  covered  witli  Bark,  but 
this  differs  very  much;  for  it  is  very  artificially  thatched  with  Sedge 
and  Rushes.  As  soon  as  it  is  finished  they  place  some  one  of  their 
Chiefest  men  to  dwell  therein,  charging  him  with  the  diligent  preser- 
vation thereof.  ...  In  these  state  Houses  is  transacted  all  public 
and  Private  Busmess  .  .  .  the  most  aged  and  wisest  meet,  deter- 
mining what  to  Act,  and  what  may  be  most  convenient  to  omit  .  .  . 
The  House  is  as  Dark  as  a  Dungeon  and  as  hot  as  one  of  tlie  Dutch 
Stoves  in  Holland.  Tliey  had  made  a  circular  Firfe  of  split  canes  in 
the  middle  of  the  House;  it  was  one  Man's  employment  to  add  more 
split  Reeds  to  this  at  one  end  as  it  consumed  at  the  other,  there 
being  a  small  Vacancy  left  to  supply  it  with  Fuel."  (Lawson, 
(1),  pp.  18-19.) 

The  house  must  have  been  very  large,  as  the  account  continues 
with  a  description  of  a  dance  in  which  "a  parcel  of  women  and  girls, 
to  the  number  of  Thirty  odd"  participated.  The  drum  used  on  this 
occasion  "being  made  of  dress'd  deer's  Skin,  tied  hot  upon  an  eartliern 
Porridge  Pot."  The  entire  narrative  is  of  the  greatest  interest. 
The  day  after  the  ceremony  the  party  left  the  Waxsaw  village,  and 
later  during  their  journey  (p.  20)  ' '  met  with  several  Towns  of  Indians, 
each  Town  having  its  capitol,  theatre  or  State  House,  such  Houses 
bemg  found  all  along  the  road,  until  you  come  to  Sapona,  and  then 
no  more  of  those  buildings,  it  being  about  170  Miles."  A  few  days 
later,  when  arriving  at  one  of  the  Catawba  villages,  Lawson  and  his 
attendants  occupied  "one  of  the  Cliief  Men's  Houses,  which  was  one 
of  the  Theaters  I  spoke  of  before. " 

Every  village  was  undoubtedly  provided  with  sweat  houses,  some 
of  which  were  arranged  temporarily  while  others  were  of  a  more 
permanent  nature.     Lawson  wrote  (p.  21): 

''The  Indians  of  these  parts  use  sweating  very  much.  If  any 
Pain  seize  their  Limbs  or  Body,  immediately  they  take  Reeds  or 
smaU  Wands,  and  bend  them  umbrella  fashion,  covering  them  with 
skins  and  match  coats.  They  have  a  large  Fire  not  far  off  wherein 
they  heat  stones  or  (where  they  are  wanting)  Bark;  putting  it  into 
this"  Stove,  which  casts  an  extraordinary  heat.  There  is  a  pot  of 
water  in  the  Bagnio,  in  which  they  put  a  bunch  of  an  herb  bearing  a 
silver  Tassel,  not  much  unfike  Aurea  Virga.     With  this  vegetable 


94  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

they  rub  the  head,  temple  and  other  parts,  which  is  reckon'd  a  pre- 
server of  the  sight,  and  strengthener  of  the  Brain." 

Contmuing  their  journey  through  the  wilderness  they  soon  reached 
the  town  of  the  Saponi,  on  the  banks  of  the  Yadkin,  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  present  Salisbury,  near  the  center  of  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, The  village  was  protected  by  palisades,  but  the  houses  were 
not  described,  although  it  was  said  that  near  the  town  (p.  25) 
"within  their  cleared  land  are  several  Bagnios,  or  Sweating  Houses, 
made  of  stone  in  shape  like  a  large  oven. "  These  were  quite  different 
from  the  hght,  quickly  made  structures  encountered  among  the 
Waxsaw.  The  night  the  party  rested  at  Saponi  the  entire  palisade 
was  blown  down  by  a  violent  wind  from  the  northwest.  They  next 
arrived  at  "the  Keyauwee's  Town,"  which  was  protected  by  pal- 
isades similar  to  those  surrounding  the  Saponi  village.  Tlie  Ke}- 
auwee  town  was,  as  suggested  by  Mooney,  about  30  miles  northeast 
of  the  Yadkin,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present  High  Point, 
Guilford  County,  North  Carolina. 

From  these  meager  references  to  certain  settlements  it  is  possible 
to  visualize  the  general  appearance  of  towns  among  the  eastern 
Siouan  tribes.  Many  of  the  villages  were  protected  by  encircling 
palisades,  and  within  the  most  prominent  structure  was  the  round 
town  house,  or  "theater,"  of  Lawson.  Surrounding  this  were  the 
dwellings  of  the  people,  and  these  probably  resembled  the  "arbour- 
like" structures  of  the  neighboring  Algonquian  tribes. 

The  Siouan  tribes  of  the  far  south — ^that  is,  the  Biloxi  and  the 
neighbormg  Pascagoula  and  Moctobi  of  the  Gulf  coast  region,  and 
the  Ofo,  or  Ofogoula,  whose  home  was  in  the  valley  of  the  Yazoo, 
in  the  present  State  of  Mssissippi — appear  to  have  followed  the 
general  custom  of  the  people  of  the  southern  country  and  erected 
houses  of  wattle,  covered  with  clay  in  a  plastic  state.  The  principal 
villages  were  protected  by  "palings"  or  palisades,  and  if  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  Biloxi  village  visited  by  Iberville  in  1700  is  to  be  accepted 
as  accurate,  and  if  it  was  a  typical  village  of  the  time  and  region, 
then  the  method  of  surroimding  and  protecting  a  group  of  dwellings 
was  far  more  secure  and  complicated  in  the  south  than  among  the 
northern  tribes. 

During  the  spring  of  the  year  1700  Iberville  discovered  the  ruins 
of  the  Biloxi  town  on  the  bank  of  the  Pascagoula,  about  20  miles 
above  its  mouth,  and  wrote  of  it  (Margry,  (1),  IV,  pp.  425-426): 

"The  village  is  abandoned,  the  nation  having  been  destroyed  two 
years  ago  by  sickness.  Two  leagues  below  this  village  one  begins 
to  find  many  deserted  spots  quite  near  each  other  on  both  banks  of 
the  river.  The  savages  report  that  this  nation  was  formerly  quite 
numerous.  It  did  not  appear  to  me  that  there  had  been  in  this 
village  more  than  from  thirty  to  forty  cabins,  built  long,  and  the 


BDSHNELL]  NATIVE   VILLAGES   AND   VILLAGE   SITES  95 

roofs,  as  we  make  ours,  covered  with  the  bark  of  trees.  They  were 
all  of  one  story  of  about  eight  feet  in  height,  made  of  mud.  Only 
three  remained;  the  others  are  burned.  The  village  was  sm-rounded 
by  paUngs  eight  feet  in  height,  of  about  eighteen  mches  in  diameter. 
There  still  remain  tln-ee  square  watch-towers  (guerites)  measuring 
en  feet  on  each  face;  they  are  raised  to  a  height  of  eight  feet  on 
posts;  the  sides  made  of  mud  mixed  with  grass,  of  a  thickness  of 
eight  inches,  well  covered.  There  were  many  loopholes  through 
which  to  shoot  their  arrows.  It  appeared  to  me  that  there  had  been 
a  watch-tower  at  each  angle,  and  one  midway  of  the  curtains  (au 
milieu  des  courtines) ;  it  was  sufficiently  strong  to  defend  them 
against  enemies  that  have  only  arrows."  (Quoted  from  Dorsey- 
Swanton,  (1),  p.  6.) 

Wliether  these  comparatively  small  tribes  had  'Hown  houses" 
within  their  villages,  as  did  others,  is  not  known;  but  it  is  evident 
their  dwellmgs  were  rather  long  and  narrow,  probably  quite  similar 
to  the  "oblong-square"  structures  of  the  Chickasaw  and  Choctaw, 
and  although  speaking  a  different  language  and  differing  to  a  certain 
degree  in  mamiers  and  customs  the  villages  of  these  small  tribes 
may  have  resembled  those  of  their  more  powerful  neighbors. 

The  Winnebago,  the  detached  Siouan  tribe  whose  home  was  in  the 
central  part  of  the  State  of  Wisconsia,  had  many  customs  in  com- 
mon \^'ith  then-  Algonquian  neighbors.  Theii"  villages  were  similar 
in  appearance.  A  painting  of  a  settlement  of  the  Winnebago,  made 
by  Capt.  Eastman  and  reproduced  in  Schoolcraft  ((1),  II,  pi.  23), 
is  here  shown  as  plate  17. 

Next  to  be  mentioned  are  the  Yuchi,  of  whose  early  history  very 
little  is  known.  But  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were  at 
one  time  a  nmnerous  people,  whose  home,  at  the  time  of  the  coming 
of  the  Spaniards,  was  among  the  mountains,  possibly  neighbors  of 
the  Cherokee.  They  moved  from  place  to  place,  evidently  appearing 
in  early  records  under  various  names,  and  finally  settled  in  the  valley 
of  the  Savannah,  where  they  were  later  met  by  Europeans. 

In  1729  a  chief  of  the  Lower  Creek  town  of  Cussetah,  on  the  Chat- 
tahoochee, married  three  Yuchi  women,  and  a  few  years  later,  having 
gathered  about  him  many  families  from  the  latter  tribe,  settled  a 
new  town  some  miles  below  at  the  mouth  of  Uchee  Creek,  in  the 
present  Russell  County,  Alabama.  This  village  was  visited  by  Bar- 
tram  early  in  July,  1776,  at  a  time  when  such  memorable  events 
were  transpiring  m  his  home  city,  Philadelphia,  and  he  said  of  it: 

''The  Uche  town  is  situated  in  a  vast  plain,  on  the  gradual  ascent 
as  we  rise  from  a  narrow  strip  of  low  ground  inmiediately  bordering 
on  the  river:  it  is  the  largest,  most  compact  and  best  situated  Indian 
towTi  I  ever  saw;  the  habitations  are  large  and  neatly  built;  the 
walls  of  the  houses  are  constructed  of  a  wooden  frame,  then  lathed 


96  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  69 

and  plaistered  inside  and  out  with  a  reddish  well  tempered  clay  or 
mortar,  which  gives  them  the  appearance  of  red  brick  walls;  and 
these  houses  are  neatly  covered  or  roofed  with  Cypress  bark  or 
shingles  of  that  tree.  .  .  .  Their  own  national  language  is  alto- 
gether or  radically  different  from  the  Creek  or  Muscogulge  tongue. 
.  They  are  in  confederacy  with  the  Creeks,  but  do  not  mix 
with  them;  and,  on  account  of  their  numbers  and  strength,  are  of 
importance  enough  to  excite  and  draw  upon  them  the  jealousy  of 
the  whole  Muscogulge  confederacy,  and  are  usually  at  variance,  yet 
are  wise  enough  to  unite  against  a  common  enemy,  to  support  the 
interest  and  glory  of  the  general  Creek  confederacy."  (Bartram, 
W.,  (2),  pp.  386-387.) 

The  "town  house,"  and  probably  the  greater  part  of  the  settlement, 
stood  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  and  in  1799  Hawkins  wrote: 

"Opposite  the  town  house,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  there  is 
a  narrow  strip  of  flat  land  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  yards  wide,  then 
high  pine  barren  hills ;  these  people  speak  a  tongue  different  from  the 
Creeks;  they  were  formerly  settled  in  small  villages  at  Ponpon, 
Sal tke tellers,  (Sol-ke-chuh,)  Silver  Bluff,  andO-ge-chee,(How-ge-chu,) 
and  were  continually  at  war  with  the  Cherokees,  Ea-tau-bau  and 
Creeks."     (Hawkins,  B.,  (1),  pp.  61-62.) 

How  interesting  would  be  a  lengthy  description  of  these  ancient 
villages,  with  an  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people; 
but  none  is  known  to  exist. 

The  Tunican  is  the  last  of  the  seven  linguistic  groups  to  be  men- 
tioned. Although  one  of  the  smaller  stocks  during  historic  times 
they  may,  in  earlier  days,  have  been  far  more  numerous  and  powerful. 
When  encountered  by  the  early  French  explorers,  the  Tunica  claimed 
land  on  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  their  principal  village  being  at 
one  time  on  the  banks  of  the  Yazoo,  sometime  known  as  ' '  the  river 
of  the  Tounika,"  a  short  distance  from  its  confluence  with  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  the  present  Warren  County,  Mississippi. 

Wlien  the  Jesuit,  Pere  Gravier,  descended  the  Mississippi  late  in 
the  autumn  of  1700,  he  rested  at  the  mission  which  had  been  estab- 
lished near  the  group  of  villages  a  short  distance  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Yazoo.  He  described  the  habitations  of  the  Tunica  as  being 
"round  and  vaulted,"  and  they  evidently  resembled  the  houses  of  the 
Natchez,  being  "lathed  with  canes  and  plastered  with  mud  from 
bottom  to  top,  within  and  without,  with  a  good  covering  of  straw." 
The  door  was  the  only  opening,  and  a  small  "lighted  torch  of  dried 
canes"  furnished  sufficient  heat  to  cause  the  interior  to  be  "as  hot  as 
a  vapor  bath."  Within  all  was  neat  and  clean,  their  beds  being 
arranged  on  posts  3  feet  above  the  floor,  and  covered  with  mats 
formed  of  split  canes.  Near  the  dwellings  were  granaries  ' '  made  like 
dovecotes,  built  on  four  large  posts,   15  or  16  feet  high,  well  put 


BUSHXELi.]  NATIVE  VILLAGES   Al^D  VILLAGE   SITES  97 

together  and  well  polished,  so  that  the  mice  can  not  chmb  up,  and 
in  this  way  they  protect  their  corn  and  squashes."  (Gravier,  (1), 
p.  135.) 

Charlevoix,  during  his  journey  down  the  Mississippi,  arrived  at 
the  Tunica  village  December  28,  1721.  This,  however,  was  not  on 
the  site  of  the  village  visited  by  Gravier  some  20  years  before.  The 
to\\ai  was  built  about  a  square  "about  a  hundred  paces  in  diameter." 
The  dwellings  were  of  two  forms,  round  and  square,  the  former  as  ' '  at 
the  Natchez."  The  house  of  the  chief  was  square  and  was  decorated 
with  ''figures  in  relief,  not  so  badly  executed  as  one  would  expect." 
(CharlevoLx,  (1),  II,  pp.  279-280.)  Evidently  there  was  a  gi-eat 
similarity  in  the  appearance  of  the  villages  of  the  different  tribes 
who,  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  Europeans,  occupied  the  lower 
Mississippi  VaUey.  The  method  of  construction  was  evidently  the 
same  throughout  the  region,  the  principal  variation  being  in  tlie  form 
and  size  of  the  various  structures. 

In  some  parts  of  the  Mississippi  VaUey  the  sites  of  ancient  villages 
arc  indicated  by  groups  of  earth  circles — seldom  squares — each  evi- 
dently marking  the  position  of  a  separate  structure.  The  dimensions 
would  correspond  favorably  with  the  sizes  of  dwellings  and  "town 
houses"  as  recorded  by  the  early  writers  and  quoted  on  the  preceding 
pages.  Two  suggestions  may  be  offered  in  regard  to  the  origin  or 
cause  of  these  traces  of  former  habitations.  First,  they  may  represent 
the  mass  of  earth  which  served  as  the  covermg  for  the  framework, 
the  wall,  and  in  some  instances  the  roof,  of  the  structure.  After  the 
building  had  fallen  to  rum,  and  the  timbers  rotted  away,  the  earth 
covering  would  have  remained,  probably  a  circular  embankment. 
The  second  theory  has  been  suggested  by  known  customs  among  the 
Siouan  tribes  of  the  upper  Missouri  Valley.  Wlien  fearing  an  attack 
or  seeking  additional  protection  for  the  occupants  of  the  tipis,  a  slight 
excavation  was  made  within  the  tipi  and  the  earth  thus  removed  was 
placed  around  the  inside  of  the  structure.  This  explains  the  origin 
of  large  clusters  of  small  circles  in  the  comitry  once  occupied  .by  the 
Siouan  tribes  through  the  vallej^  of  the  Missouri,  This  custom  is 
knowTi  to  have  been  followed  as  late  as  September,  1862,  during  the 
Sioux  uprising  in  southwestern  Minnesota.  When  the  site  was  aban- 
doned, and  the  tipi  removed,  the  excavation  would  gradually  become 
filled  with  particles  of  earth  and  sand  carried  by  the  winds  and  b}^ 
the  growth  and  decay  of  vegetation.  As  the  result  of  this  filling  in, 
the  surface  which  served  as  the  floor  when  the  tipi  stood  over  the 
excavation  has  become  covered,  consequently  traces  of  former 
occupancy,  such  as  the  fire  beds  and  bits  of  broken  pottery,  are  found 
below  the  present  surface.  This  may  explain  the  origin  of  certain 
of  the  smaller  circles  encoimtered  east  of  the  Mississippi.  One  of  the 
108851°— 19 7 


98  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAX   ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  60 

most  interesting  gi-oups  stands  on  McKee  Island,  in  the  Tennessee 
River,  a  short  distance  above  Guntersville,  Marshall  County,  Ala- 
bama.    A  ridge  extends  the  length  of  the  island,  and — 

"Along  the  middle  part  of  the  ridge  are  various  sites  on^e  occupied 
by  wigwams,  all  circular  so  far  as  we  could  determine,  except  one 
which  was  square.  The  sites  were  marked  by  depressions  and  had 
been  surrounded  by  small  embankments,  but  as  the  gromid  had  been 
under  cultivation  m  the  past,  exact  measurements  were  not  obtaui- 
able.  .  .  One  of  our  circular  depressions,  32  feet  in  diameter,  was  11 
inches  beloW  the  suiTOunding  level,  which  perhaps  included  part  of 
the  original  embankment.  Diggmg  in  this  site  disclosed  a  fireplace, 
about  centrally  situated,  made  up  of  three  layers  of  burnt  clay,  show- 
ing that  the  level  of  the  fireplace  had  been  raised  from  time  to 
time.  .  .  .  The  largest  site,  52  feet  square,  was  1  foot  8  inches  below 
the  level  around  it."     (Moore,  (2),  p.  282.) 

As  the  area  occupied  by  this  ancient  village  site  had  been  under 
cultivation  the  small  embankments  must  necessarily  have  become 
somewhat  spread,  therefore  the  measurements  given  must  be  greater 
than  the  size  of  the  circles  and  square  at  the  time  they  were  made. 

A  group  of  small  circles  m  Wilson  Coimty,  Tennessee,  was  exam- 
ined and  the  interesting  discovery  was  made  that  within  some  were 
stone-lined  graves.  This  corresponds  with  the  known  custom  of 
some  Muskhogean  tribes  of  depositing  the  remains  of  the  dead  in 
graves  beneath  the  floor  of  their  dwelling,  which  they  continued  to 
occupy.  Such  was  the  habit  among  the  Chickasaw,  withm  whose 
territory  the  present  county  of  Wilson  may  have  been  included,  and 
this  group  may  mark  the  site  of  an  early  village  of  tliis  tribe. 

Quite  similar  to  the  site  on  McKee  Island  was  another  discovered 
on  the  sunmiit  of  a  bluff  some  60  feet  in  height,  overlooking  Barren 
River,  in  Barren  County,  Kentucky.  Here  16  lodge  sites  could  be 
traced,  ''partly  raised  on  the  outer  rim  and  depressed  in  the  center. 
In  the  center  of  each,  a  foot  beneath  the  surface,  were  found  coales, 
the  gram  of  the  wood  being  easily  distinguished  as  oak  and  poplar. 
The  diameters  of  these  rings  average  about  18  feet  in  diameter." 
(Evans,  (1),  p.  609.) 

These  had  evidently  not  been  touched  by  the  plow,  and  therefore 
remained  nearly  in  then*  original  condition,  although  the  cavity 
withm  the  circle  had  been  partly  filled  through  natural  causes.  This 
group  bears  a  very  strong  resemblance  to  those  existmg  in  the  upper 
Missom'i  Valley. 

Other  groups  of  circles  have  been  discovered  north  of  the  Ohio, 
one  being  on  the  bank  of  Clear  Creek,  Union  County,  Illinois.  Here 
the  village  site,  as  indicated  by  the  cncles,  is  surrounded  by  an 
embankment. 


wsHNBLL]  XATf\'E    VILLAGES    AND   VILLAGE    SITES  99 

"Tlie  'hut  rings'  or  small  circular  depressions  surrounded  l)y 
slight  earthen  rings  .  .  .  are  scattered  irregularly  over  the  wooded 
portion  of  the  inclosure,  the  number  exceeding  100.  They  vary  in 
diameter  from  20  to  50  feet,  and  in  depth  from  1  to  3  feet  and  are 
often  but  a  few  feet  apart."     (Thomas,  (1),  pp.  155-159.) 

Another  site  described  by  the  same. winter  stands  in  Brown  County, 
Illinois,  about  3  miles  west  of  Perry  Springs  Station.  Here  (p.  119) 
"  the  dwelling  sites  vary  considerably  m  size,  some  being  as  much  as 
70  feet  in  diameter,  and  some  of  them  3  feet  deep  in  the  center  after 
fifty  years  of  cultivation."  These  may  have  become  greatly  spread 
and  otherwise  modified  as  a  result  of  the  long-continued  plowing  of 
the  surface. 

Undoubtedly  some  of  the  groups  of  circles  just  mentioned  are  the 
remams  of  clusters  of  structures  which  resembled  those  of  the  Man- 
dan,  Pawnee,  and  other  Upper  Missouri  Valley  tribes.  But  it  is  also 
known  that  similar  dwellings  were  erected  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
and  in  1682  Tonti  mentioned  the  Taensa  village,  in  the  present  Tensas 
Parish,  Louisiana,  where  the  houses  were  '^plac'd  in  divers  rows  .  .  . 
being  all  made  of  Earth,"  which  evidently  referred  to  structm^es  of 
wattlework,  a  mass  of  earth  over  a  frame  of  poles.  These  were  nec- 
essarily smaller,  although  they  must  have  resembled  the  winter 
houses  and  town  houses  of  the  Chickasaw  and  Cherokee. 

Wliile  the  great  majority  of  village  and  camp  sites  are  now  indi- 
cated by  the  occurrence  of  bits  of  broken  pottery  and  objects  of  dif- 
ferent materials  scattered  over  the  surface,  which  has  remamed  at 
practically  the  same  level  as  before  it  was  occupied,  nevertheless  in 
some  parts  of  the  South,  usually  near  water  courses,  are  elevations 
which  have  resulted  from  long-continued  occupancy  of  a  restricted 
area.  Such  sites  may  cover  an  acre  or  less,  and  are  formed  by  the 
accmnulation  of  shells,  charcoal,  and  general  camp  refuse  which 
gradually  increased  to  a  height  of  several  feet.  Such  elevations  are 
usually  classed  as  mounds,  but  it  will  be  readily  understood  that 
they  were  accidental  and  not  the  intentional  work  of  man. 

CONCLUSION 

In  reviewing  the  many  references  presented  on  the  preceding 
pages,  it  is  interestmg  to  observe  the  characteristic  features  of  the 
habitations  and  other  structures  erected  by  the  native  tribes  who 
formerly  occupied  Eastern  United  States.  It  is  quite  remarkable 
that  in  the  North,  where  the  long  winters  were  most  severe,  the 
dwellings  were  covered  with  barks  or  rush  mats,  which  often  fur- 
nished many  openings  through  which  the  winds  could  enter.  Very 
different  were  the  winter  houses  of  the  Muskliogean  tribes  of  the  South, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  Cherokee.  These  great  earth-covered  struc- 
tures, the  largest  buildings  erected  bv  anv  of  the  eastern  tribes,  were 


100  BUREAU    OF    AMERTCAX    ETHNOtTOGY  [bulu.  69 

termed  "hot-houses"  b3^-the  traders,  by  reason  of  the  temperature  of 
the  interiors.  And  among  many  of  the  southern  tribes  the  dwellings 
were  similarly  strong  and  secure,  but  in  the  far  South,  near  the  Gulf 
coast  and  scattered  over  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  were  shelters 
covered  with  a  thatch  of  palmetto. 

Among  many  Algonquian  tribes  each  family  usually  occupied  a 
single  wigwam,  covered  with  mats  or  sheets  of  bark,  either  dome- 
shaped  or  in  the  form  of  an  arbor  with  rounded  roof  and  flat  ends. 
The  long  communal  dwellings  were  typical  of  the  villages  of  the 
Iroquois,  while  in  the  South  the  home  of  each  family  often  consisted 
of  a  group  of  two,  three,  or  four  separate  buildings,  each  of  which 
served  a  special  purpose. 

The  villages  differed  in  appearance  as  well  as  did  the  separate 
structures.  Some,  more  particularly  among  the  numerous  widely 
scattered  Algonquian  tribes,  were  groups  of  small  wigwams,  close  to 
one  another  and  often  surrounded  by  palisades.  In  other  localities 
where  there  was  less  danger  of  being  attacked  by  their  enemies,  the 
habitations  were  more  separated,  often  with  gardens  and  fields 
between,  and  unprotected  by  palisades.  Among  the  Iroc[Uois  or 
Five  Nations  a  strongly  fortified  central  village,  usually  protected  by 
a  double  or  triple  line  of  palisades,  served  in  times  of  danger  as  the 
gathering  place  for  the  peojjle  of  the  surrounding  region,  similar  in 
many  respects  to  the  various  "stations"  in  Kentucky  and  other 
parts  of  the  western  country  a  centuiy  and  more  ago.  In  the  South, 
among  the  Creeks,  the  Cherokee,  and  others,  a  to^^^l  would  often 
extend  for  several  miles  along  the  bank  of  some  stream,  or  over  the 
lowlands  on  both  sides  of  the  vallc}^,  but  the  center  of  the  settlement 
would  be  the  town  house,  usually  placed  on  the  summit  of  an  artifi- 
cial mound,  in  and  around  which  the  people  would  gather  to  hold 
their  dances  and  to  enact  their  difi'erent  ceremonies. 

Sweat  houses  were  probably  to  have  been  found  in  all  the  villages 
of  the  North,  but  less  often  in  the  South,  and  the  quotation  from 
Lawson  would  probably  apply  to  the  people  over  a  wide  area,  although 
referring  particularly  to  the  eastern  Siouan. 

A  custom  which  was  evidently  c[uite  fixed  in  the  South  was  that 
of  placing  a  carved  wooden  figure  of  a  bird  above  the  council  house, 
the  temple,  or  the  most  important  building  of  the  town.  This  was 
first  witnessed  by  the  Spaniards  at  Ucita,  in  the  year  1539,  when 
they  saw  "a  fowle  made  of  wood,  with  gilded  eies"  above  the  roof  of 
the  temple.  Charlevoix  in  1721  described  the  Natchez  temple  as 
having  at  each  end  "something  like  a  weather-cock  of  wood,  which 
has  a  very  coarse  resemblance  of  an  eagle,"  while  a  few  years  later 
Adair  wrote  of  the  large  winter  houses  of  the  Chickasaw  "where 
commonly  a  pole  is  fixed,  that  displays  on  the  top  the  figure  of  a  large 
carved  eagle."  And  a  century  ago  when  Hodgson  visited  the  Lower 
Creek  town  of  Cussetah  he  saw  "a  high  pole  .   .   .  with  a  bird  at  the 


BUSHNKLI, 


NATIVK    VILLAGES    AXD    VILLAGE    SITES 


101 


top,  round  whicli  tho  Indians  celebrate  their  Green-Corn  Dance." 
This  he  likened  to  the  May  poles  in  England.  While  this  custom 
was  not  restri(^ted  to  the  tribes  occupjang  the  southern  part  of  the 
country,  nevertlu'less  these  scattered  references  tend  to  recall  the  dis- 
(^overy,  some  years  ago,  of  mail}"  remarkable  carved  wooden  figures 
at  Key  Marco,  on  the  lower  west  or  Gulf  coast  of  Florida.  One  of 
these  interesting  objects,  representing  the  head  of  a  deer,  is  shown  in 
figure  12. 

Evidently  some  of  the  larger  structures  among  the  southern  vil- 
lages were  constructed  with  the  floor  lower  than  the  surrounding 
surface.  Such  a  custom  was  unknown  in  the  North,  and  to  what 
extent    it   was    practiced    in   the    f^:--?-^^ 


South  is  not  yet  determined.  Thc^ 
first  reference  is  found  in  Le 
Mojme's  description  of  a  village  on 
the  east  coast  of  Florida  in  1564,  \n 
which  he  said,  "The  chief's  dwell- 
ing stands  in  the  middle  of  the  town 
and  is  partly  underground,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  sun'sheat. ' '  Adair 
mentioned  the  floor  of  the  Chicka- 
saw town  or  winter  house  being  be- 
low the  surrounding  afea.  It  was, 
so  he  WTote,  ' '  often  a  3'ard  lower 
than  the  earth,  which  serves  them 
as  a  breast  work  against  an  enemy: 
and  a  small  peeping  window  is  level 
with   the   surface   of   the   outside 


^. 


^- 


^^^' 


Fig.  12.— Head  of  deer  carved  in  wood,  discovered  at 
Key  Marco,  west  coast  of  Florida. 

ground.''     Nearly  two    centuries 


elapsed  between  the  writings  of  Le  Moyne  and  Adair,  and  the  wide  ter- 
ritory between  the  coast  of  Florida  and  the  home  of  the  Chickasaw 
was  occupied  by  many  tribes. 

In  addition  to  the  more  permanent  structures  within  the  towns 
every  tribe  seems  to  have  had  a  particular  form  of  temporary  shelter, 
or  lodge,  easily  and  quickly  raised,  to  serve  as  their  hunting  camps 
or  when  on  distant  journeys.  According  to  several  early  writers  it 
was  possible  to  identify  the  tribe  to  which  a  party  belonged  by  the 
form  of  their  shelters. 

Such  were  the  peculiar  features  of  the  village  and  the  various 
structures  reared  by  the  many  tribes  found  occupying  the  wide 
region  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic  when  that  great 
wilderness  was  first  entered  by  the  missionary  and  explorer,  trader 
and  colonist,  when  narrow  trails  traversing  the  vast  primeval  forests 
served  to  coimect  the  widely  scattered  settlements.  Now  many  of 
the  ancient  sites  are  covered  by  the  principal  cities  of  the  Nation, 
and  the  courses  of  the  forest  trails  are  followed  bjnts  great  highways. 


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INDEX 


Abxaki—                                            '  rage 

.lwelluii;s ...  23 

s^roiip,  location  of 10 

manner  of  sleeping 23 

\COLAPISSA  VILLAGE  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI 66 

A  PAIR,  James,  description  by,  of  Chiclcasiw 

houses 69 

.\lachua  tribk.  settlement  of SI 

ALr,ONQLX».N— 

and  Iroquoian  villages,  similarity  of. . . . .  26 

dwellings  described  by  Roger  Williams. .  20 

family,  tribes  of 10 

Apalachee  Ixdiaxs.  invasion  of  country  of .  15 

Apalachicola— 

a  peace  town 78 

home  of  the  chief  at 7S,79 

Atasi,  fotnnda  nt 79 

Bark— 

preparation  of,  for  coverire  dwellings r4 

See  Birch  bark. 

Bark-covered  dwellings— 

in  the  North 23, 24,99 

types  of 58 

Bark  strELTERS 54 

Bartram,  John— 

on  Onondaga  cotuicil  house 52 

on  temporary  shelters M 

Bartram,  Wm.— 

on  A  palachicola  dwellings 7? 

on  Cherokee  town  house 60 

on  public  square  of  the  Creeks 73 

on  spiral  fire 76 

on  town  of  Cuscowlla 81 

on  war  and  peace  towns 77 

on  Yuchi  town 95 

Beaufort  CotTNTV,  S.  C,  ancient  structure 

in 86 

Biard,  Pierre,  on  customs  of  New  England 

Indians 22 

BiLOXi  Indians— 

dialect  of 16 

territory  occupied  by 16 

villages  of 94 

Birch  bark,  used  to  cover  dwellings 23 

Bird,  carved  .figure  of,  above  council  house . .  100 

Black  n.»  wk's  village 45 

BoNi'OUCA ,  Choctaw  settlement  of 64 

Bossu,  N., explorations  of 40 

burla.l  customs  of  muskhogean  tribes. . .  98 

Burial  place  of  the  Senecas 28 

BUSHNELL,  P.  T.,  Jr.—  . 

on  the  Saco ;..-  19 

quoting  Oglethorpe  on  r'oweta 77 

Byrd,  Col.  Wm.,  description  by,  of  Nottoway 

town 67 

Caches  of  corn 41,  .>3 


Caiioklii  TRIBE—  Page 

belonging  to  Illinois  confedoraey 42 

country  occupied  by 11.43 

village  of ■ 12 

Calusa  Indians.  toA-ns  of '.U 

Caoquias,  ^^llage  of  the 12 

Cape  Cod  dwellfngs 22 

Carolina  Indians,  habilations  of 58 

Carved  fioxjee  above  council  }iouse lOO 

Carved  head  of  dekr 101 

Catawba  Indians,  reference  to if. 

Catlin,  George,  description  by,  of  Mandan 

village 70 

Cayuga,  one  of  the  Six  Nations 13 

Champlain,  expedition  of 18 

Charlevoix— 

description  of  \illage  by 66 

explorations  of 12 

\-isit  of,  to  Illinois  village 41 

Cheraw  Indl\N5,  reference  to 16 

Cherokee  tribe- 

country  occupied  by 13 

dwellings 59 

encroachment  by  whites  on  lands  of. ... .  62 

Chesapeake  Bay,  settlements  on 30 

CHICKAS.VW  TRIBE— 

buildings  of 6*^ 

country  occvipied  by T 14 

Choctaw  tribe— 

habitations  of '>4 

country  occupiel  by 14 

Chote,  the  "metropolis''  of  the  Cherokee... .  61 

Chu-nky  yard  of  Creek  toavns 74 

Communal  dwellings- 

of  Long  Island  tribes 28 

of  the  Five  rations 48 

of  the  Iroquois .  100 

of  the  ifahican ..  26 

of  the  Timucua 90 

Conestoga.    See  Susquehakna. 

Congaree  Indians,  reference  to 16 

CoreeInduns— 

habitations  of -'.S 

reference  to 13 

Corn,  caches  of ti .  53 

COUNQL  fire  of  .SPIRAL  FORM 76 

CCtTNCIL  HOUSE— 

carved  figure  above 100 

of  the  Creeks 74 

of  the  Housatonic  Indians 25 

CowE,  location  of 60 

Coweta,  description  of 77 

Creek  confeder.\cy— 

formation  of 14 

location  of  villages 14 

t  OAAUS  of 72 

107 


108 


INDEX 


("REEK  TOWNS,  principal  structures  of .  74, 75. 7G 

ruMBERLiVND  RivFE,  village  on 46 

CuscowiLLA,  description  of Si 

('USSETAH  — 

arrangement  of  buildings  in 75 

description  of 72 

Dabi.on,  PfeRE  C,  quoted  on  Illinois  Indians.  3S 
Dankers  and  SLiTiTER,  quoted  on   Long 

Island  dwellings 28 

Decoration  of  houses 52 

De  Graffenried,  quoted  on  villageof  Paski.  5S 

Delaware  Indians,  territory  occupied  by. .  11 
Dickenson,  Jonathan— 

on  Florida  habitations.. SS 

on  Indian  " warehouse " S4 

Dome-shaped  habitations  of  Carolina  In- 

DL\NS ■ .-,.s 

Du  Pratz,  Natchez  houses  described  by. . . .  tu 
Davelling,  type  of,  determined  by  material 

available 23 

Earth  circles,  explanation  of 97 

Earth  lodge  of  the  Cherokee 59 

Earthquake  in  ;MississirPi  Valley SO 

Earthworks  of  Ohio,  probable  builders  of.  16 
Erie  tribe— 

possible  settlers  on  James  River 37 

territory  occupied  by 13 

war  of,  \rith  confederated  Iroquois 3S 

Everglades  of  Florida,  tjrpical  house  in. .  82 

Fenner,  K.  Y.,  site  of  Onondaga  town 54 

Filson,  John,  Old  Chillicothe  described  by  .  47 
Five  Nations- 

country  occupied  by ; 48 

tribes  composing 13 

Floors,  level  of 101 

I'lorida— 

southern,  villages  of SS 

tribes  inhabiting 15 

typical  house  in  Everglades 82 

Food  supply — 

of  eastern  Indians 10 

of  Illinois  Indians 42 

Fox  Indl\ns— 

territory  occupied  by 11, 12 

village  of,  on  Rock  River i-1 

Ganundesaga  Castle 27 

Geogr.\^phio  omsiONS  of  ea.stern  Unitfh 

States 9 

Germ.^ntown,  Pa.,  former  village  on  site  oi.  U 
Gookin,  Daniel,  quoted  on  New  England 

dwellings 24 

Granaries  of  Timucuan  Int)ians 89 

Graves,  sfone-lined,  in  Wilson  County,  Tenn.  9S 

G RAVIER,  PfeRE  J.,  Tamaroa  ^^llage  \isited  by  43 

Great  Island,  Pa.,  occupied  by  Delaware. .  57 
GUALE  tribe— 

houses  of 83 

islands  occupied  by 15 

Hawkins,  Benj.— 

on  construction  of "  hot-house  " 75 

on  Creek  stmctures 76 

Sha^^Tiee  settlement  visited  by 47 

Hawkins,  J.,  Florida  habitation  described 

by 90 

Hewitt,  J.  N.  B.,  quoted  on  descent  among 

the  Iroquois 50 


I 'age 

Hochelaga,  description  of .55 

Hodgson,  Adam,  description  by,  of  Cussetah       72 
Hopkins,  Samuel,  on  construction  of  wig-       b 

warn 25 

"Hot-houses"— 

construction  of,  among  Creeks 75 

of  the  South lOO 

Housatonic  Indi  vns,  dwellings  of,  describeri  25 

Housatonic  Valley,  tribes  of 11 

Hudson  River— 

dwellings  on 28 

tribes  on 11 

Humphreys,  David,  quoted  on  Mohawk  cus- 
toms   51 

Hunting  practices  of  Narraganset  In- 
dians   21 

Huron  Indlans,  reference  to 13 

Illinois  confederacy,  tribes  composing 11, 42 

iLUNOis  Indians— 

great  \illage  of,  described  by  Rasles 41 

great  village  of,  visited  by  La  Salle 40 

\nllages  of .38 

Ilunois,  State  of— 

Indians  of 11 

dwelling  sites  m  Brown  County 99 

dwelling  sites  in  Union  Coimty 98 

Indlvna,  Indians  of 11 

Iroquoian  family,  territory'  occupied  by  . . .  13, 14 

Iroquois,  League  of  the,  formation  of 13, 50 

Iroquois  tribes— 

houses  and  villages 48 

shelters 54 

-^'illage  sites 48 

\-illages  similar  to  Algonqman 26 

Jece,  village  of 88 

Joliet,  journey  of .39 

Kaskasku.  tribe— 

territory  occupied  by 11 

\-illage  of 41 

visited  by  the  French 11 

Kaunaumeek,  a  Housatonic  village 25 

Kecoughtan,  site  of 33, 35 

Kentucky,  Barren  Coimty,  lodge  sites  Ln. . .  98 

Keowee  River,  settlement  on 63 

KuLUMi,  description  of  houses  in 79 

Laet,  J.  de,  on  Hudson  River  dwellings 29 

Lahontan,  Armand,  on  fortified  \-illages 26 

Lake  Pontchartrain— 

Indian  structure  on 64 

settlement  on 65 

tribes  in  vicinity  of 66 

Languages,  diversity  of 17 

La  S.vlle,  explorations  of 12, 38 

Lawson,  John— 

on  Carolina  habitations 58 

on  \'illage  of  Waxsaw 92 

Le.\gue  of  the  Iroquois,  formation  of 13, 50 

Len.ipe  Indians,  territory  occupied  by 11 

Letters  concerning  the  Cherokee 61 

Log  house  of  the  Creeks 78 

Long  house— 

at  Onondaga 52 

of  the  Narraganset 21 

Long  Island,  habitations  of 19, 28 

Long,  Stephen  H.,  on  Fox  village 44 


INDEX 


109 


I'agf 
LomsiANA,  wattlework  and  earth  structures 

in 09 

Lower  Mohawk  Castle,  site  of i>l 

MacCaulet,  Clay,  description  by,  of  house 

in  Everglades X2 

McKee  Island,  Ala.,  earth  circles  on 9S 

Mahican  tribe— 

territory  occupied  by U 

villages  of 2fi 

Maine   settlement,   described   by    Cham- 
plain !■' 

Maine,  tribes  of. iti 

Malecite  habitations 22 

Manahoac  group,  named  by  Capt.  John 

Smith.. 1<> 

Mandan  Indlvns— 

structures  of 71 

village  on  Missoiu-i  River 70 

Manhattan,  signification  of  name 11 

Manhattan  tribe,  territory  occupied  by 11 

Maps,  showing  position  of  Indian  villages 18 

Marquette,  journey  of SS,  39 

Martin,  Joseph,  letter  written  by 61 

Maryland,  villages  of  Eastern  Shore  of 30 

Mascoutens,  great  ^-illage  of 39 

Mass.vchuset  tribe,  territorj'  occupied  by. .  10 

Mat-covered  habitations,  types  of 58 

Meheerin  tribe,  territory  occupied  by 13 

Menominee  Indians,  territory  occupied  by .  11 
MuMi  Indians— 

territory  occupied  by 11 

settlement  of 39 

MlCBIGAMEA  tribe— 

of  the  Illinois  confederacy 42 

territory  occupied  by 11 

village  of 43 

Michigan,  Indians  of 11 

MicMAC  tribe— 

habitations  of 22 

territory  of 10 

MiNISINK  VILLAGE 29 

Mohawk  tribe— 

one  of  Six  Nations 13 

\allage  of,  described 51 

Mohegan  tribe,  territory  occupied  by. ... .  10 

Monacan  confederacy,  chief  town  of Ki 

Montreal,  site  of  Hochelaga 55 

Mooney,  James— 

on  the  Riekohockan 37 

population  estimated  by 9 

Moore,  Clarence  B.— 

on  Alabama  village  sites 98 

on  South  CaroUna  stracture 86 

Morgan,    L.    H.,   quoted   on   communism 

among  Indians 29 

Mounds— 

accidental 99 

circular,  indicating  dwelling  sites 97 

indicating  village  sites 72 

Mourt,  George,  quoted  on  dwellings  on 

Cape  Cod 22 

Munnsville,  N.  Y.,  village  near 51 

Munsee  Indians,  territory  occupied  by 11 

Muskhogean  tribes,  country  occupied  by. .  14, 63 

Nanticoke  village,  near  Cambridge,  Md ...  31 


Page 

Naples,  N.  Y.,  village  near 50 

Narraganset  tribe— 

customs  of 20 

defeat  of 11 

hunting  practices  of 21 

temporary  nature  of  villages 20 

territory  occupied  by 10 

NAsiivaLE,  Tenn.,  site  of  former  Shawnee 

village 12, 46 

Natchez  Indlans— 

location  of  settlements 66 

dwellings  of,  described 66 

territory  occupied  by 14 

war  of,  with  French 14 

Neutrals,  at  war  with  Algonquian  tribes. . .  12 

New  England  tribes lo 

dwellings  of 21, 24 

North  Carolina,  tribes  cf 16 

Nottoway  tribe — 

reference  to 13 

town  of,  described 57 

Ofo  Induns— 

dialect  of 16 

territory  of 16, 94 

Ohio,  Indians  of 11 

Ohio  Valley,  former  occupants  of 15 

Ojibway,  linguistic  relations  of 12 

Old  Chillicothe,  description  of 47 

Omaha,  signification  of  name 16 

Oneida,  one  of  the  Si.x  Nations 13 

Oneida  village,  described 51 

Onondaga  town,  site  of 54 

Onondaga  tribe,  one  of  the  Six  Nations 13 

Onondaga,  village  of 52 

OviEDo  Y  Valdez,  quoted  on  Quale  struc- 
tures   83 

Painting  on  walls 52, 80 

Pausaded  villages 23, 

26, 27, 30, 40, 54, 57, 90, 94, 100 

Palmetto-thatched  house 65 

Palmetto-thatched  shelters lOO 

Paski,  village  of,  described 58 

Passamaquoddy  Induns,  temtory  occupied 

by 10 

Pawnee  earth  lodges 71 

Peace  towns  of  the  Creek  confederacy.  77 

Pemberton,  E  . ,  on  work  of  David  Bramer:! .  25 

Penn,  Wm.,  treaty  concluded  by,  in  16S2 11 

Penobscot  tribe,  territory  occupied  by 10 

Peoru  tribe— 

discovered  by  Marquette 11 

territory  of 11 

village  of,  on  Illinois 40 

village  of,  on  Mississippi 39 

Pequot  tribe ,  territory  occupied  by 10 

Play  house  of  the  Narraganset 21 

Pomeioc,  description  of 34 

Pontdalamia  ,  a  village  of  the  Kaskaslda. . . .  11 
Population— 

estimated  by  James  Mooney 9 

estimation  of,  by  number  of  sites  mis- 
leading   45 

Powhatan,  chief,  described  by  Capt.  John 

Smith 36 

Powhatan  cont'ederacy,  boundary  line  of.      16 


110 


Powhatan  tkibi;^  I'age 

country  occupio'  I  by 37 

oustoms  of 32 

meaning  of  name 37 

villages  of 31 

Public  Square  of  the  Creeks 73,74 

Quadrangular  dwelling? 5S 

QuAPAW,  signification  of  name l«i 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter— 

expeditions  of 11,31 

\dllages  discovered  by  expeditions  of 33 

Rasawek,  location  of Ki 

Rast.es,  Sebastien— 

on  Abnaki  village 23 

on  Illinois  Indians -. 41 

Richmond,  Va.,  village  on  present  site  of 37 

Roanoke  Indians,  discovered  by  Raleigh'* 

expedition 11 

Rock  River,  villages  on 44 

Romans,  Bernard,  description  by,  of  Chick- 
asaw village , 68 

Rotunda  of  Creek  towns 73, 74 

Rushes,  used  in  construction  of  dwellings..  3S,99 

SACO  RR'ER— 

Indian  name  for 19 

village  at  mouth  of 19 

Saint  Esprit,  Mission  of 3S 

St.  Lawrence  RrvER ,  tribes  near 11 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  •^'illage  near 12 

St.  Marys,  Ga.,  Indian  warehouse  at 85 

Santa  Cruz,  Fla.,  village  of 84 

Santee  Indians,  reference  to Ifi 

Saponi  Indians— 

reference  to 16 

location  of  villages 92 

Sauk  and  Fox- 
linguistic  relations  of 12 

villages  on  Rock  River 44 

Sauk  Indians,  territory  occupied  by 11 

Schoolcraft,  II.  R.,  on  Siouan  tribes 16 

Secotan,  drawing  of,  by  John  White 34 

Seminole,  origin  of  the  name 80 

Seminole  Home,  group  of  structures  com- 
prising   82 

Seminole  town,  described 81 

Seminole  tribe,  origin  of 15 

Seneca  tribe— 

one  of  the  Six  Nations 13 

village  site  of 27 

Shackamaxon.  village  of 11 

Shawnee  tribe— 

country  occupied  by 11, 12, 46 

linguisitc  relations  of 12 

migrations  of 12 

Shell  heaps,  indicating  villages  on  Chesa- 
peake Bay 30 

Shell  mounds— 

atJece,  Fla 88 

on  Little  Island,  South  Carolina 86 

Shelters,  temporary— 

of  the  Narraganset 20. 21 

of  the  Seminoles 82 

SiNiCA,  location  of 63 

Siouan  tribes— 

migration  of 15 

territory  of 92 

Six  Nations,  tribes  composing  the 13 


Smith.  Capt  John—  Page 

description  of  Powhatan  by 36 

meeting  of,  with  the  Susquehanna 56 

villages  indicated  by 33 

South  CAROLfNA,  tribes  of is 

Spiral  fire  of  council  house 76 

Squier,  K.  G.,  on  Ganiuidesaga  Cast:-e 27 

Stockbridges.    Sec  Hou.sa tonic  Indian.s. 

Strachey,  William,  on  Powhatan  %iilages. .  31 
Susquehanna  Indl\ns— 

meeting  of,  \dth  Capt.  John  Smith 56 

territorj-  occupied  by 13 

■  viilaces  of _ 56 

Sweat  houses 93, 100 

TaENSA  VttLAGE  in   liOUISIANA 99 

Tallapoosa  River,  settlement  on 46 

Tamaroa  tribe— 

country  occupied  by 11, 43 

member  of  Illinois  confederacy 42 

villages  of 12, 43 

Teatontaloga,  description  of 51 

Tecumseh,  meeting  of,  with  Upper  Creek 

chiefs 80 

Tellico,  town  house  at 60 

Tennessee,  Wh-son  County,  earth  circles  in  98 

Timberlake,   Henry,  on  Cherokee  town- 
house 61 

Timucuan  Indlvns— 

country  inhabited  by 15 

villages  of 89 

Tonti,  Henri  DE,  on  village  of  Pontdalamia.  41 

Townhouse— 

at  Tellico 60 

at  Waxsaw 93 

ofCowee ■     60 

of  eastern  Siouan  tribes , 92 

of  the  Sha^\-nee 47 

on  mounds 72 

TO'W'n  square,  structures  surrounding,  de- 
scribed     76 

Tsonontowan,  Seneca  village  of 50 

TuKABATCHi,  location  of 79 

TUNICAN  FAMILY'— 

country  occupied  by 17, 96 

houses  of 96 

TUSCARORA  InDL\NS— 

country  inhabited  by 13 

dwellings  of... 58 

fort  of,  on  Neuse  River 58 

one  of  the  Six  Nations 13 

village  of 58 

war  of 13, 58 

TuTELo  Indians— 

reference  to 16 

villages  of 92 

UCHEAN  family,  territory  occupied  by 16 

UciTA,  Timucuan  town  of 91 

Utchowig,  probable  site  of 56 

Van  Curler,  Arent,  explorations  of 51 

Van  der  Donck,  quoted  on  Iroquois  houses.  48 

Verrazzano,  John  de,  expedition  of 19 

Village  site.s— 

meaning  o.  term 15 

number  of,  misleading 45 

size  of,  misleading 18, 21 

spots  chosen  for 18 

Villages,  appearance  of 100 


INDEX 


111 


■  rago 

ViRGINU.— 

native  villages  of 31, 3(5 

linguistic  comieclion  of  tribes  of 57 

Siouan  tribes  in 16 

\  IRGINIA  COLONY,  coiintry  occupied  by 3(5 

Wabash  River,  village  on Itj 

Waccamaw  Indians,  territory  occupied  by . .  15 

Wampanoag  tribe,  territory  occupied  by. . .  10 
Wampum,  string  of,  accompanying  Cherokee 

document ; . . .  (i2 

Wappinger  Indians,  territory  occupied  by . .  11 

War  towns  of  the  Creek  confederacy  ...  77 
Warehouse,  Indian— 

at  Santa  Cruz,  Fla. S4 

at  St.  Marys,  Ga  .! So 

Watch  houses  in  fields 34 

Watch-towers  of  Biloxi  \t:llage 95 

Waitlework,  dwellings  of— 

in  Choctaw  settlements (i4 

in  Siouan  tribes 94 

in  Taensa  village , 09 


I'age 

Waxsa w,  village  of 92 

Werowacomoco,  site  of 35 

Wiute,  John,  drawings  of 34 

Whitewashing  of  Indian  structures 80 

Wigwam— 

method  of  construction 25 

of  Algonquian  tribes li),  ino 

Williams,  Roger,  on  New  England  habita- 
tions    19 

Winnebago  tribe,  on  Green  Bay,  Wis 16 

Winnebago  villages 95 

Wisconsin,  Indians  of n 

Yamasee  War,  reference  to 12 

Yamasi  Indians— 

ancient  structure  of :...  gti 

.  territory  inhabited  by n 

Yuriii  Indians— 

band  of,  possible  settlers  on  James  River.  37 

country  inliabited  by 95 

to«Ti  of. 9.5 


o 


BUREAU    OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   69      PLATE  2 


a.    BIRCH-BARK  COVERED    WIGWAM.      NORTHERN    MINNESOTA,    1899 


b.   WIGWAM    COVERED    WITH    RUSH    MATS  AND    PIECES  OF  BARK.      MILLE   LAC. 
MINN.,   1900 


OJIBWAY   hMBITATIONS— TYPICAL  ALGONQUIAN   STRUCTURES 


BUREAU    OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  69     PLATE  3 


THE   HOUSATONIC,  COVERED   WITH    ICE 


b.    LOOKING    UP  THE   VALLEY   OF  THE    HOUSATONIC 


iUREAU    OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


iULLETIN   69      PLATE  4 


3Lodus    muruendi    apud    MaLilcajienfes 

.HMuere  van   7i*L>^^n£/a^tft'n  c0£  J^L'rr-^n  Jer  .ifuJiuu/ij 
ende   anJre  ,VuXu-n  ^^u^r  ael'uren 


a.    MAHiCAN    VILLAGE.     FROM    MAP  OF   NOVI    BELGII,    ABOUT   1651 


Alter    Modu^     apiid  J 


3f  Inline  Min  cc^s 


^f^is^m^-  ---^ 


b.    MINISINK   VILLAGE.      FROM    MAP  OF    NOVI    BELGII,    ABOUT   1651 


!UREAU    OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   69      PLATE  5 


|r^ 


:'M" 


W3 


l 


-rlu 


'%!;' 


& 


t  I  in  I! 


.tf<'vir  vests  rj'-f'C^  i^Ktlif  i^pps 


SECOTAN.      BY  JOHN    WHITE,   1585 


iUREAU    OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   69      PLATE  7 


\ 


■  J    '.vv,.,/^.v,..^g,,^. 


^-'^'^'■-^^ 


'THE  CABINS   OF  THE    POWITE    INDIANS,"    ON    THE   SITE   OF   RICHMOND.    VA- 
IN   1653 


3UREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  69     PLATE 


HOCHELAGA.      FROM    LESCARBOT.    1609 


illtttt 


i^2 


A/. 

w 


{^m 


%m. 


m 


.><^. 


it'r^ 


b.   ONONDAGA.      FROM    CHAMPLAIN,   1615 


BULLETIN   69      PLATE  9 


a.  "THE   INDIAN    FORT   SASQUESAHANOK,"   1720.      FROM   THE   MOLL   MAP  OF  1720 


b.    UPPER    END    OF   GREAT    ISLAND    IN    WEST    BRANCH    OF  THE   SUSQUEHANNA. 
SITE   OF   DELAWARE   VILLAGE    IN    1768 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   69      PLATE  10 


b.   THE    FORESTS   OF   LONGLEAF    PINE 


c.   THE    BAYOUS    NEAR  THE  GULF  COAST 

CHARACTERISTIC    VIEWS    IN    THE    SOUTH 


J^J^^^W 


BUREAU    OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  69      PLATE  14 


P^'Wt^ 


.^~-=.     --- 


—  ^?:-^^  '-. 


TEMPORARY    DWELLING    OF  THE   SEMINOLE 


b.    PERMANENT   DWELLING    OF  THE   SEMINOLE 


BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


5ULLETIN   69      PLATE  15 


^■-^Z'"'^^ 


;^:'^•■SL^i;:"^'•^ 


LARGE  SHELL  HEAP  AND  DWELLING  SITE  ON  SEACOAST  NEAR 
ST.  AUGUSTINE,   FLA. 


b.   ON   THE  TOMOCO   RIVER,   NEAR  ORMOND,   VOLUSIA   COUNTY,   FLA. 


ULLETIN   69      PLATE   16 


a.   A  "PUBLIC   GRANARY"    IN    FLORIDA.      FROM    LE   MOYNE,   1564 


b.   A    FORTIFIED   TOWN    IN    FLORIDA.      FROM    LE    MOYNE,    1554 


SOLii€i/HSLRLFROiECT 


tm4  ^ife.«.. 


